New Delhi, January 07, 2023: The State of Maryland has ordered the Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine to pay $676,200 to cover the costs for the restoration of oyster bars which were damaged following the grounding of Ever Forward.
The massive 12,000 TEU container ship ran aground off Pasadena in the Chesapeake Bay after leaving the Port of Baltimore on 13 March 2022, for her journey to Norfolk, Virginia.
The operation to free and refloat the vessel lasted for over a month, and after several attempts failed the ship was finally refloated on 17 April.
An emergency wetlands license was issued after the grounding to allow for dredging to refloat the vessel. The grounding and dredging impacted about 14 acres of Chesapeake Bay bottom, including 11.5 acres within the boundary of a natural oyster bar, according to Maryland’s government according to the reports published in offshore-energy.biz.