More than 35 days after it ran aground outside a shipping channel in the Chesapeake, the 1,095-foot container ship Ever Forward is free – floating on its own bottom once again.
The ship was freed by five tugs and two pulling barges, jockeying the huge vessel backward and side to side until it refloated Sunday morning on a high tide and full moon. The ship ran aground outside the Craighill Channel after it left Baltimore, heading for Norfolk, Virginia. It draws 42 feet and it was stuck in 24 feet of water. After the ship floated again, tugs pulled it across a dredged area back into the channel.
Early last week, after two failed attempts to refloat the Ever Forward by a series of tugs and barges, crews started unloading some of the 4,964 containers on board via two cranes in an effort to lighten the ship. The ship did indeed raise about half a foot with the lighter load, as dredges kept scooping up muck from the sea floor.
AIS data showed the ship ran aground at 13 knots, with a pilot on board. The Coast Guard is investigating how that happened.
After it was refloated, the Ever Forward was weighed down by water tanks to ensure a safe passage under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, heading for an anchorage off Annapolis. Inspectors then will examine the hull to make sure it wasn’t damaged by days of rocking against the bottom.
If the hull is not harmed, the Ever Forward then will go back to the Port of Baltimore to retrieve the 500 containers that were removed last week. Read more at https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/anne-arundel/bs-md-ever-forward-sunday-20220417-tb4lnpj37ncenjny7qcgqq7vaq-story.html and see the video below:
