In late March 2021, an Evergreen container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, halting international trade for almost a week. A year later, history repeats itself. Another ship operated by the same company has been stuck in the Chesapeake Bay, in Baltimore, since Sunday the 13th.
The 1,095-foot Ever Forward was en route to Norfolk, Virginia, from Baltimore when it ran aground in the bay near Craighill Channel at about 9 p.m. Sunday. Since then, a salvage team, naval architects and divers have been working to free the ship. There have been no injuries or “pollution-related spills.” The Coast Guard has not yet determined how the Ever Forward got stuck.
Unlike the Ever Given, this container ship is not preventing other ships from entering or leaving the port of Baltimore and, therefore, is not affecting international trade, says William P. Doyle, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, in a statement collected by The New York Times.
The maneuvers to refloat the mega-container ship stranded in the strategic Suez Canal lasted six days. Under normal conditions, this 190-kilometer-long waterway flows just over 10% of world trade. The jam left more than 360 container ships unable to continue their route. According to the initial estimates of the Suez Canal Authority, the losses and damages were around 13 million euros per day.
Economy