The Ever Forward, the sister ship to the Ever Given that blocked the Suez Canal last March, has run aground in the Chesapeake Bay. The massive container ship is currently stuck near Baltimore, and the U.S Coast Guard is actively working to try and free the stuck vessel. It ran aground after leaving the Port of Baltimore Seagirt Terminal on Sunday night en route to Norfolk, VA.
The Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March 2021, costing billions of dollars in economic losses that were felt across the world. Ships were forced to go around the Horn of Africa during the delay, which ballooned shipping costs globally. The ship remained stuck in bureaucratic limbo for 106 days while governments and creditors battled over its cargo and liability for the incident, before eventually give it clearance to leave in June.
As for the Ever Forward, the ship is operated by the same company, the Evergreen Marine Corp Taiwan, Ltd. The Ever Forward is currently stuck outside of the canal and isn't currently blocking marine traffic, and the Coast Guard has stated the vessel is performing checks every few hours to ensure its not damaged or leaking in its current position.
"Efforts have been underway to try and free the ship," William P. Doyle, Maryland Port Administration executive director, said in a statement.
Those efforts include attempting to 'refloat' the ship, although it's unclear what that entails. Divers have also been called in to inspect the bottom of the ship. The Ever Forward is 1095 feet long (334 m), the length of three football fields, and was only delivered in 2020, so it's barely had time to scratch the hull.
After this current predicament, it's likely she will have a few character marks on her underside.
You can see footage of her current predicament in the video below:
