Cranes have started lifting containers off the grounded 1,095-foot container ship Ever Forward that’s been stuck in the Chesapeake since March 13. The idea is to lighten the ship enough so that it may be refloated at the full moon early next week.
The Ever Forward, registered in Hong Kong, ran aground after leaving Baltimore, heading for Norfolk, Virginia, with a pilot on board. AIS data say it was running about 13 knots when it left the Craighill Channel and stopped suddenly outside the Patapsco River in about 24 feet of water. The ship draws more than 42 feet.
The Coast Guard is investigating what went wrong.
The Coast Guard organized two efforts to refloat the ship, using tugs and pulling barges, but neither worked. Dredging also has continued around the vessel, with more than 210,000 cubic yards so far being removed and deposited at Poplar Island.
The Ever Forward was carrying 4,964 containers when it went aground. Cranes on both sides of the ship are lifting containers off now, but it’s a difficult process. Crews have to climb up the container stacks to manually unlatch the twist locks holding the containers.
Then the cranes lift them, one at a time, and deposit them on one of the two crane barges. Then they’re placed on barges that shuttle them to the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore and offloaded by cranes on land there.
The Coast Guard says that about 500 containers will have to be removed before the next effort is made to refloat the ship. Read more at https://gcaptain.com/photos-containers-start-coming-off-ever-forward/?subscriber=true&goal=0_f50174ef03-b33ed0eae8-139841865&mc_cid=b33ed0eae8&mc_eid=fd2798f293 and see the video below:
