The next round of the Ever Forward refloating saga began at the weekend, as the first leg of the removal of containers from the 12000-TEU containership got under way.
This after two unsuccessful attempts to refloat the vessel, which ran aground
in Chesapeake Bay on March 31 as it departed the Port of Baltimore for its next port call in Norfolk, Virginia.
According to the US Coast Guard, 500 of the 4 964 containers on board are expected to be offloaded before the third attempt to dislodge the grounded vessel.
The Coast Guard estimates that this will take two weeks, using two crane barges with suitable lifting heights.
Maritime news portal gCaptain explains that the operation to remove boxes involves crews scaling the container stacks to manually unlatch the twist locks. Two crane barges are then deployed to lift the containers one by one and place them on the barges.
Once the barges are full, they are then shuttled back to the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore to be offloaded by shore-based cranes.
Good progress appears to have been made on Sunday, with 43 containers removed.
By yesterday, a Coast Guard spokesperson said 100 containers had been offloaded.
Evergreen has assured the industry that the cause of the incident is under investigation by the competent authorities – and since the grounding occurred outside the shipping channel, the vessel has not been blocking navigation.
At the end of last month, the company, “for cautionary purposes”, declared General Average and nominated Richards Hogg Lindley as the GA adjuster.
