ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — Ever Forward, a massive cargo ship, has been stuck in the Chesapeake Bay.
Crews had tried dredging the ship out, but to no avail.
The more than 1,000-foot ship with 5,000 containers on board is stuck in 24 feet of water.
The ship needs to operate in at least 42 feet of water.
MORE: Crews to remove shipping containers from the Ever Forward in order to get it floating again
After failed attempts to dredge the boat free, the U.S. Coast Guard has another plan.
They will move two cranes in and start unloading from both the starboard and port side.
SEE ALSO: On Tuesday, officials will try to get the grounded Ever Forward ship back afloat
This procedure is call lightering, a process of making the ship lighter. John Martino, from the School of Seamanship, has been out to the 130,000 ton vessel.
Moving containers that are 8,000 pounds empty while at sea is a dangerous job.
Having a five or six ton box at the end of a cable is no easy task. “They also have to be careful the order they take the containers off,” Martino said. “So, they have to make sure everything stays balanced as they go along.” Martino told WMAR-2 the ship was moving when it hit, so the boat dug a nice trench.
The Ever Forward is just off shore from Downs Park in Pasadena.
The whole project should take two weeks, barring any delays by weather. It does not impede regular traffic where it us now. “We were up there today and saw a container ship for the same size come out and go right by it,” Martino said. “So, it's not In the channel, she is well out of the channel. That's actually the problem.” The Coast Guard says they will only unload the containers during daylight hours for safety reasons.
The company that owns the ship is the same company that had a ship stuck in the Suez Canal.
