NPR News

The Ever Forward is finally free from the Chesapeake Bay — one month later

By Jaclyn Diaz

Published April 17, 2022 at 12:13 PM EDT

Tugboats, bottom, align a barge near the container ship Ever Forward, top, which ran aground last month, as workers remove containers from it in efforts to lighten the load and refloat the vessel on April 13.

After a month of being lodged in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, the Ever Forward cargo ship is finally free.

Thanks to the help of a high tide, several tug boats and barges — and perhaps a little Easter Sunday miracle — crews plucked the the 1,095-foot ship free from the shallows off Pasadena, Md., on Sunday.

William P. Doyle, the executive director at the Maryland Port Administration, announced the update on social media.

"A tremendous team effort with a little help from the Easter Sunday rising tide in the Chesapeake Bay. The Evergreen, Ever Forward has been [refloated]", he said.

The push to free the massive ship was a team effort including aid from Donjon-Smit, LLC, the salvage manager and the U.S. Coast Guard, he said.

The Ever Forward had just loaded up with cargo in Baltimore and was heading south to Norfolk, Va., when it ran aground on March 13. The container ship reportedly missed a turn leaving Baltimore, causing it to end up in the shallow waters off Pasadena.

Crews worked for weeks to pluck the ship free. They used "every facet of the sector including dredging, marine construction, tugs, barges (deck barges, crane barges, and pull barges)," Doyle said.

The saga of the Ever Forward was reminiscent of the Ever Given, which is also owned by the Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp. The Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for six days last March, causing major shipping disruptions.