Evergreen Containership Aground in Chesapeake Bay

Update: Ever Forward remained grounded on Tuesday in Chesapeake Bay.

A 334-meter containership owned by Evergreen Marine is aground in Chesapeake Bay not far from the Port of Baltimore on the U.S. East Coast.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard’s 5th District confirmed that the M/V Ever Forward grounded Sunday night as she departed with one pilot on board.

Automatic identification system (AIS) ship tracking data shows the Hong Kong-flagged Ever Forward, with a draft of 13 meters, had just got underway from Baltimore to her next port of call in Norfolk, Virginia when the grounding occurred near Gibson Island.

An animation of the ship’s track shows the vessel proceeding as normal at a speed of about 12 knots in the moments leading up to the incident. A live AIS feed on Monday showed at least two tugs are now with the ship.

The Ever Forward was delivered in 2020 and is one of 20 “Evergreen F class” ships built for Evergreen Marine, each with a capacity of around 12,100 TEU. Ever Front’s much larger sister vessel, Ever Given, notoriously ran aground in the Suez Canal back in March 2021, blocking the waterway for six days before she was refloated.

Evergeen Marine’s websiste lists Ever Forward’s owner as EVERGREEN MARINE (HONG KONG) LTD.

No injuries or pollution have been reported, according to the Coast Guard spokesperson.

The Coast Guard and Maryland Department of the Environment are coordinating the refloating of the container ship.

The next high tide in Gibson Island, MD is expected at 5:21 p.m. local time on Monday, although there seemed to be no refloating attempt.