Evergreen to try a third time to free stuck ship

Evergreen Marine Corp. plans another effort to free its stuck container ship near Baltimore as early as Sunday, a cargo claims agency said, after two unsuccessful attempts led the company to take a legal step requiring the owners of cargo on board to share damage costs.

The 334-meter (1,096-foot) Ever Forward ran aground in the Chesapeake Bay after departing the Port of Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal on March 13 and hasn’t moved since, according to mapping data compiled by Bloomberg. Its capacity is almost 12,000 20-foot containers.

On March 20, a group led by the U.S. Coast Guard launched a rescue operation that involved an initial dredging phase and two refloating attempts, on March 29 and March 30. More attempts could happen April 3-4, according to marine claims agent WK Webster.

So far, there are no reports of injuries, pollution or damage to the ship or its cargo, and the vessel is not disrupting traffic on the Chesapeake Bay, Evergreen added. The cause of the incident is under investigation, it said.

Evergreen’s declaration of general average on Thursday means that all stakeholders will proportionately share the losses resulting from the expenses to save the vessel. Evergreen did so given “the complexity of further rescue operations,” which will require more workers, equipment and costs, it said. The Taiwanese company urged all parties involved to take action in order to take delivery of cargo after the ship is freed.

The Ever Forward was scheduled to call four U.S. East Coast ports after departing China on Feb. 2. The Hong Kong-flagged ship was en route to the Virginia International Gateway terminal in Norfolk, after stopping in ports in Georgia and Maryland.

Another Evergreen vessel ran aground in the Suez Canal in March 2021, blocking traffic for six days and disrupting global shipping for months. The same company that freed the Ever Given last year has been now hired to refloat the Ever Forward.