Initial Refloating Attempt For Grounded Ever Forward Set For Tuesday
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- After more than a week of dredging mud, authorities are ready to make their first attempt at refloating the Ever Forward, a massive container ship that has been stuck in the Chesapeake Bay for more than two weeks.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the Maryland Department of the Environment and other coordinating agencies will try to tug the 1100-foot long ship to deeper water at noon Tuesday.
The Coast Guard is temporarily expanding its safety zone from 500 feet to 1,000 feet for the operation, closing the navigation channel to commercial traffic from noon Tuesday through to midnight.
The agency initially planned to free the ship last weekend, but a rainy forecast kept the operation from moving forward.
The Ever Forward ran aground 24 feet deep into mud on March 13. The last time something like this happened was last year a ship owned by the same company got stuck and blocked the Suez Canal in Egypt, and that disrupted billions of dollars a day in global trade.
If required, additional dredging operations will commence and a second attempt to refloat the Ever Forward would then be expected around Sunday the Coast Guard said.