The 1,095-foot-long Ever Forward container ship, which draws more than 42 feet, is still hard aground in the Chesapeake in 24 feet of water despite the efforts of five tugs earlier this week to refloat it.
The Ever Forward ran aground on March 13 after it left the Port of Baltimore with a pilot on board. AIS data says the ship was running at 13 knots when it left the dredged Craighill shipping channel and stopped suddenly outside the Patapsco River.
The Coast Guard has not yet determined what caused the ship to leave the channel.
In an effort to refloat the Ever Forward. two clamshell dredging boats worked nonstop around the ship for several days, to no avail. Then, earlier this week, five tugs tried to free it, also without success. They were in a formation with two tugs pulling on the starboard quarter, one pulling on the stern, and two pushing on the port side.
The Coast Guard says the tugs will try again later this week, with the help of two anchored pulling barges. If that doesn’t work, then thousands of containers will be removed from the ship to lighten the load.
Meanwhile, a naval architect is on board evaluating the Ever Forward’s stability and watching the fuel and ballast tanks for any potential pollution. So far, that has not been a problem.
The Ever Forward was on its way to Norfolk, Virginia, when it ran aground. It is a sister ship to the 1,300-foot Ever Given container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week last year. Read more at https://coastguardnews.com/chesapeake-bay-safety-zone-to-be-extended-tuesday/2022/03/28/ and see the video below:
