Attempts to free stuck cargo vessel Ever Forward fail, ship to be unloaded before next attempt

Ever Forward, a sister vessel to the Ever Given ship that had blocked the Suez Canal last year, has been stuck in the Chesapeake Bay for more than three weeks now and all attempts to free it have failed so far.

The vessel is the largest ship to get stuck in the Chesapeake Bay. It is 1,095 feet long, weighs 117,340 gross tons and had run aground after it took a wrong turn in the Bay on March 13.

It is currently lodged in Baltimore en route to Norfolk, Virginia. Unlike Ever Given which had blocked trade and had cost Egypt millions, Ever Forward has proven to be a lesser nuisance.

The ship is carrying 5,000 containers and it is unclear what is in these cargo containers. A Bloomberg journalist recently told NBC that almost all of her belongings are on the ship and that her family is waiting for the ship to move.

"We are at the whims of the tide and the salvage crew of the Ever Forward. The entire contents of our apartment, all of our furniture, lots of books, things of sentimental value are all in a container stuck in the Chesapeake Bay," said Tracy Alloway who recently moved to New York from Singapore.

Since the last two attempts to free it did not bear fruit, the authorities have now decided to remove the shipping containers from the ship in an attempt to lighten its load.

"The salvage experts determined they can't overcome the ground force of the Ever Forward in its current loaded condition. Once the containers are removed, crews will again try to refloat the ship," said the U.S. Coast Guard in a statement on Monday.

They said that two crane barges will be installed to remove the containers. Once these containers have been removed, tugs and pull barges will attempt another refloat of the vessel.

The Coast Guard added that the operation could take around two weeks, which will also depend on weather conditions and other variables. The cost of removing the containers will be shared by the people whose belongings are on the ship.

The ship's owner Evergreen Marine Corp. has invoked a maritime law under which people whose belongings are on the ship are required to share the cost of freeing it, according to a report in Axios.

The Ever Given crisis last year had forced companies to choose between waiting or rerouting vessels around the southern tip of Africa, which adds 9,000 kilometres (5,500 miles) and over a week of travel to the trip between Asia and Europe.

Egypt had lost some $12-15 million in transit revenues each day that the ship was stuck. Fortunately, the Ever Forward is not costing so much money.