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Ever Forward refloated but Evergreen faces US$100M bill
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12,000-TEU containership freed after 35 days of being stuck in 24-feet deep mud on Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
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Vessel will remain at anchorage off Annapolis, Maryland, until US Coast Guard allows it to continue its voyage
Hong Kong-flagged Ever Forward is back in Maryland on April 18, a day after the vessel was freed from 24-feet deep mud on Chesapeake Bay, where it ran aground on the evening of Mar 13 shortly after leaving the Port of Baltimore.
Evergreen Marine, the company in Taiwan that operates the container line, announced in a statement on Monday the successful freeing of the vessel on Easter Sunday morning.
“At 07:12 April 17, 2022 (EST), the Ever Forward was successfully refloated by salvor who has been working closely with the US Coast Guard, competent authorities of the State of Maryland and local service providers to remedy the ship’s grounded status in Chesapeake Bay,” Evergreen Marine said in a statement.
Getting unstuck, however, is not the end of the saga of the 12,000-TEU container. US media reports said on Monday that the 1,095-foot Ever Forward would not be allowed to sail onward until it has received clearance from the US Coast Guard to do so.
The state government of Maryland is asking Evergreen Marine to put up a US$100 million responsibility fund to reimburse the resources that were used in the ship, which was loaded with around 3,000 40-ft containers when it got stuck.
Part of the proposed fund would go to potential compensation to seafood farmers in the shallows, Maryland state comptroller Peter Franchot said on US television Channel 13 NJZ.
“We have a blistering letter, emphatic letter, demanding the leadership of the Taiwanese company that they need to set up a fund and do the right thing,” Franchot told the station.
The refloating of the two-year-old vessel was a major event for newspapers, radio and TV channels that covered the grounding since Day One. The incident was also a tourism event for people from nearby areas who gathered on weekends at the seaside near where the ship got stuck.
“Thanks to the help of a high tide, several tugboats and barges – and perhaps a little Easter Sunday miracle – crews plucked the ship free from the shallows off Pasadena, Maryland, on Sunday,” NPR news portal reported on Monday.
The giant ship is now in Annapolis, where it will be inspected by the US Coast Guard. Ever Forward will wait for the all-clear from the Coast Guard before it can reload 500 containers that were discharged and taken to Baltimore during the final attempt to refloat it.
The vessel will sail onward to its next port call in Norfolk, Virginia to deliver cargo from Asia.
The Coast Guard said protecting the environment is paramount and the dredging company will send a letter to the Maryland Department of Environment to plan any mitigation effort for any impact on the Chesapeake Bay oyster beds.
The Ever Forward had just loaded up with cargo in Baltimore and was heading south to Norfolk when it ran aground. The container ship reportedly missed a turn leaving Baltimore, causing it to end up in the shallow waters off Pasadena.
Crews worked for 35 days to pull the ship free using dredging, marine construction, tugboats and barges.
