HIGHLIGHTS
- Two efforts to free the 1,095-foot vessel running aground failed then.
- They began unloading 500 of the Ever Forward’s 5,000 shipping containers onto waiting barges.
- A team of boats pulled the ship across a dredged hole and back into a 50-foot channel where it could float freely.
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Incessantly efforts after a month
The container ship reportedly missed a turn leaving Baltimore, forcing it to wound up in shallow waters off the coast of Pasadena, where it ran aground on March 13.
The Ever Forward was freed from the muck by a team of naval architects, scuba divers, and the Western Hemisphere’s largest clamshell dredge. Around the boat, at least 210,000 cubic yards of mud were excavated, enough to fill 64 Olympic swimming pools.
After that failed, cranes working 12 hours a day began unloading 500 of the Ever Forward’s 5,000 shipping containers onto waiting barges, which transported the cargo back to the ship’s starting port in Baltimore, beginning in April.
The Ever Forward was able to rise half a foot due to the weight decrease, allowing a team of boats to pull it across a dredged hole and back into a 50-foot channel where it could float freely.
The rescue effort was aided by a full moon, favorable winds, and a high tide, and the Ever Forward was pulled from the shallows off Pasadena.
Ever Forward has been refloated, no significant damage is recorded
The Ever Forward was held down by water tanks once it was refloated to ensure safe transit beneath the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on its journey to an anchorage off Annapolis, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Maritime inspectors will now look into whether the Ever Forward’s hull was harmed as it sat in the mud. If the ship is in good condition, it will dock in Baltimore, pick up the unloaded containers, and return to its intended destination of Norfolk, Virginia.
Officials claim there were no injuries, property damage, or pollution as a result of the grounding. The Ever Forward ran aground for unknown reasons, according to the Coast Guard.
Tran Van Hieu
Evergreen ship suffers stack collapse
