Block party

Ship from firm that blocked Suez Canal runs aground in US

Ever Forward becomes stuck outside Baltimore port almost exactly a year after MV Ever Given became wedged in key Asia-Europe waterway for six days

By AFP 15 March 2022, 9:43 am Edit

The container ship Ever Forward, which ran aground in the Chesapeake Bay off the coast near Pasadena, Maryland, the night before, is seen March 14, 2022. (Julio Cortez/AP)

WASHINGTON — A massive container ship, owned by the company whose vessel last year blocked the Suez Canal, has run aground near the US port of Baltimore, US officials said Monday.

The Ever Forward, a 1,096-foot (334-meter) vessel, ran aground in the Chesapeake Bay shortly after leaving a Baltimore port Sunday night, said the executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, William Doyle, in a statement.

“There have been no injuries or spills,” Doyle clarified.

“The ship’s grounding is not preventing other ships from transiting to the Port of Baltimore,” he added, noting that efforts had been underway since Sunday night to free the stranded vessel.

The accident came almost exactly a year after the 200,000-ton container ship MV Ever Given became wedged in the Suez Canal during a sandstorm, blocking the key waterway for six days.