The 12,000 teu Ever Forward grounded in Chesapeake Bay outside the Port of Baltimore on 13 March. Two attempts to refloat the vessel after dredging around it on 29 and 30 March failed to free it. Evergreen Marine has since declared General Average on the vessel.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) said that together with Maryland Department of the Environment and Evergreen Marine Corporation, and other responders, a revised strategy involving lightering the vessel of containers had been developed.
Dredging would be continued to a depth of 43 feet to allow two crane barges of a suitable height alongside the vessel.
“The containers will be removed in daylight hours only for safety purposes from both the port and starboard sides and placed on receiving barges. Then, these barges will shuttle the containers back to their original onboarding facility, Seagrit Marine Terminal in Baltimore, where they will be offloaded by shore-based handling gear,” USCG said.
Another attempt to refloat the Ever Forward will be made once enough containers have been removed. The operations are estimated to take two weeks, dependent on weather.
The shipping channel will remain open for one way traffic with a 500-yard safety zone around the vessel.
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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