Suez-stranded sister ship runs aground

Dredging has started in an effort to refloat the 334m container ship with the unfortunate name Ever Forward after it became stuck in the Chesapeake Bay a year after Ever Given snarled up the Suez Canal.

Salvage firm Donjon Smit has been hired to salvage the Evergreen-owned ship and has begun the dredging, said the US Coast Guard on March 21, more than a week after the cargo ship ran aground.

Smit was also hired to salvage the Ever Given and more recently the Felicity Ace, which eventually sank carrying 4,000 luxury cars.

No hull damage or fuel leakage had been reported.

News agency Bloomberg said the vessel had run aground as it left the Port of Baltimore Seagirt Terminal on March 14, on its way to Norfolk, Virginia.

The grounding had not prevented other ships from transiting the port, Reuters quoted the Maryland Port Administration executive director William Doyle as saying.

“The rescue team is mobilising all available local tugboats to join in the refloating operation,” said Evergreen. ”After sufficient mud is excavated, the amount of ballast water on Ever Forward will be adjusted to reduce the ship’s weight and the refloating operation will begin using both the tugboats and the power of its main engine.

”The rescue team will carry out the plan utilising the most beneficial high tide period in the port.”