Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship Ever Forward refloated after month stuck in US bay
- The Ever Forward, owned by the Taiwan-based company Evergreen, became lodged in mud a few hundred metres from shore on March 13
- The US Coast Guard had been at work trying to refloat the Ever Forward for weeks, assisted by tugs and dredge boats
A massive container ship stranded for a month in the US east coast’s Chesapeake Bay was refloated on Sunday.
The Hong Kong-flagged Ever Forward, owned by the Taiwan-based company Evergreen, became lodged in some 20ft (six metres) of mud a few hundred metres from shore on the night of March 13 after missing a turn into deeper water.
US media reported the ship was dislodged around 7am local time on Sunday, after nearly 500 of the 5,000 containers on board had been removed to make the vessel lighter and take advantage of the month’s highest tide.
The US Coast Guard had been at work trying to refloat the Ever Forward for weeks, assisted by tugs and dredge boats, as the stricken ship and efforts to release it became a spectacle for sightseers on shore.
Marine inspectors will examine the ship’s hull before the Coast Guard allows it to return to the Port of Baltimore to retrieve the offloaded containers.