Sistership EVER FORWARD Run Aground in the Chesapeake

[LittleWing77]

Tuesday March 15, 2022

Seen this photo from the Coast Guard?

It’s EVER FORWARD, sister ship of EVER GIVEN, the container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for several days in March 2021.

A year later, EVER FORWARD is stuck – run aground in Chesapeake Bay. It’s a narrow channel for a freighter, but if they’d checked yesterday’s MarineWather.net forecast for the area, they would have seen this:

LOW WATER ADVISORY IN EFFECT

It might have been helpful.

Word is, BoatUS has declined unlimited towing to the EVERGREEN family of vessels.

Source: www.towndock.net

[tkeithlu]

Huh, why does it say "evergreen" on the side of the "everforward?"

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Huh, why does it say "evergreen" on the side of the "everforward?"

Evergreen is the company that owns the ship.

[Jamme]

I believe EverGREEN is the company’s name. Each ship is then called “Ever [something]” — Ever Given, Ever Forward, etc.

Some footage:
https://youtu.be/8rALgD73N_w

[Checkswrecks]

This has nothing to do with tide, they simply missed a turn at the EXTREMELY conspicuous G15 buoy. Ever Forward is a 43' draft & is in the shallows to the east of the wide Craig Hill Angle turn in an area of 17-24' depth, between Bodkin Creek and Gibson Island. The most basic of charts shows how narrow the channel is with the lighted buoys and depth markings clearly visible. They are so far out of the channel that shipping is continuing unobstructed. This one is pure lack of seamanship.

fwiw - For locals it is about 1.6 miles off Downs Dog Park and for the rest of you, it's NOAA Chart 12278, page 10, north of buoy R14 and can be seen on MarineTraffic.com.

See https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status...029065/photo/1

[Lake-Effect]

The Chesapeake's newest island? Condo developers take note.

[Ferrity]

Enjoyed this video which details last year's Evergreen ship grounding in the Suez and recent grounding in Chesapeake Bay. It also discusses the challenge of freeing Ever Forward from the Bay. (Notes allow one to skip ahead to segments of interest.)

Ever Forward Versus Ever Given Grounding & Salvage | What's Going on With Shipping?

[Checkswrecks]

Great video and shocking that she is 4 meters (12 ft!) lifted on the mud.
thx

[mdc]

I don't think this ship is moving anytime soon. I expect to see this view all season long.

[DougR]

Originally Posted by Checkswrecks

This has nothing to do with tide, they simply missed a turn at the EXTREMELY conspicuous G15 buoy. Ever Forward is a 43' draft & is in the shallows to the east of the wide Craig Hill Angle turn in an area of 17-24' depth, between Bodkin Creek and Gibson Island. The most basic of charts shows how narrow the channel is with the lighted buoys and depth markings clearly visible. They are so far out of the channel that shipping is continuing unobstructed. This one is pure lack of seamanship.

fwiw - For locals it is about 1.6 miles off Downs Dog Park and for the rest of you, it's NOAA Chart 12278, page 10, north of buoy R14 and can be seen on MarineTraffic.com.

See https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status...029065/photo/1

Absent some sort of mechanical steering failure, I would say fingers are pointing at the Maryland Pilot Assoc.

[hpeer]

We are having a pretty good tide here today.

I doubt she is lifted 4 meters, 4 feet sounds a lot. Not much tide in that area.

[PippaB]

Originally Posted by hpeer

We are having a pretty good tide here today.

I doubt she is lifted 4 meters, 4 feet sounds a lot. Not much tide in that area.

Probably somewhere in between. The 4 meters is counted from her draft marks. Maximum draft is listed at 15.5 meters. She departed the dock listing 13 meters draft, and bow draft marks in photos of her aground show around 10 meters.

Best guess, she is three meters from floating, +/- a meter with the tides.

I'm sure she dug a hole, but the water depth reported around her isn't even close to 10 meters, more like 5-8, so being at 10 meters aground in the hole she dug isn't implausible, and gives you an idea that she dug a hole 3-6 meters deep. Getting out isn't going to be easy.

[Tortuga's Lie]

Yup, the Bay pilot was supposedly in command. I bet he/she will need to find a new line of work after this one, or relegated to line handler.

We usually get some good spring tides that are high, probably not high enough though

[hpeer]

Thanks for the explanation. Hopefully she is in a bow up attitude which has her showing more dug in than she is.

I think we can agree she is not likely to float off on the next high tide. But I assume they will try it even in a long shot. I am assuming all other options are much more expensive.

A question for the crowd, is it fair to assume she will need a yard lay period for inspection ni matter what?

And if so will she need to be unloaded?

[Tortuga's Lie]

She should be able to float off if unloaded but how is this possible while in the water and could another cargo ship get close enough for this to happen in the first place?