The 12,000 teu Ever Forward has been grounded for over two weeks and operations had been undertaken to dredge around the vessel before a refloating attempt took place on Tuesday.
According to local reports five tugboats were unable to free the Ever Forward in the first attempt to refloat the vessel.
WJZ CBS Baltimore reported that another attempt would be made to refloat the vessel on Wednesday with a high tide expected to provide an additional two feet of water.
Some 84,000 cu metres of mud have been dredged out from around the containership, however, strong winds created a lower tide on Tuesday.
Should Wednesday’s attempts to refloat the Ever Forward fail the US Coast Guard plans for further dredging around the vessel before trying to refloat it at the weekend. If this is still unsuccessful cargo lightering operations will be undertaken.
The 12,000 teu, 2020-built Ever Forward grounded 13 March in the Chesapeake Bay near Craighill Channel after sailing from the Port of Baltimore bound for Norfolk, Virginia. The cause of the grounding remains under investigation.
The grounding captured public attention and imagination coming almost a year after the Ever Given grounded in the Suez Canal on 23 March 2021 blocking the key waterway for six days and causing havoc in global supply chains.
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