Almost one year ago, the container ship Ever Given ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal for six days. Now, another ship operated by the same shipping company, Evergreen Marine Corporation, has run hard aground. The Ever Forward, a 1,095-foot, 12,000 TEU, container ship, ran aground around 9PM on Sunday night after leaving Baltimore, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The ship grounded outside the shipping channel off Gibson Island in the Chesapeake Bay. The ship, reported to have a draft of 42′ feet, ran aground in approximately 25′ feet of water while traveling at over 13 knots. The ship apparently failed to make a turn in the channel. It is unclear whether human error or a mechanical failure caused the casualty. The Ever Forward had a pilot aboard at the time of the grounding.
The Coast Guard said the cargo ship is outside the main shipping channel and is not a hazard to navigation. Ships in the area have been instructed to slow down and use a one-way traffic pattern. There are no reports of damage, injuries, or pollution as a result of the incident.
It is interesting that both vessels Ever Given and Ever Forward went aground while under the advice of local Pilots. Either the Pilots are not giving good and correct advice to the vessel Captains and Watchofficers or the vessels draft is not being allowed for correctly.
Recently a large cruise ship grounded in the channel while departing Puerto Plata DR. This is a Port that I entered and departed in a smaller cruise ship weekly for several years. That was difficult enough how that large cruise ship managed is quite beyond me !!
Channel depth must be maintained if all these large ships are going to be able to enter and depart Ports safely. That should also help the Port Pilots, whom are generally outstanding, keep their jobs.
Good Watch (and Piloting).
It will be interesting to find out whether the grounding was simply human error or a mechanical failure. Missing a well-marked turn in the channel with a pilot aboard seems unlikely, but stranger foul-ups have happened.
Wow, hard to imagine how the Ever Forward found itself in such shallow water. With these larger vessels, with limited sight lines, human error is greatly magnified, and a simple misinterpreted rudder command can quickly put a ship out of position, with no chance of correction. As it would be a great expense to further widen the depth of channels, the most sensible solution would be to impose maneuvering speed restrictions on these larger vessels, to allow for corrections in restricted waters. Although it would increase maneuvering times, it would certainly be better then the amount of time and expense involved in refloating this vessel. It would be extremely fortunate, and in my estimation unlikely there is no structural damage sustained by the vessel being so hard aground.
Mike Scull, Retired Chief Engineer MEBA
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