HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard has released its report about a ship that ran aground in the Chesapeake Bay while on its way to Norfolk earlier in 2022.
The Ever Forward, a 1,095-foot Hong Kong-flagged container ship grounded on March 13 and had to be unloaded before being refloated. The report shows the ship missed a turn in the Craighill Channel, leading it to run aground.
The ship had 4,964 containers on board and was heading to Norfolk from the Port of Baltimore.
While a ship is captained by a “master," pilots are often the ones who guide ships through specific passages like a river or bay where they have knowledge of the waterways. A Maryland State Pilot was on board the Ever Forward.
Coast Guard investigators found the pilot failed to maintain situational awareness. According to the report, the pilot wasn't actively monitoring navigation aids and also placed or received phone calls, sent two text messages, and started an email immediately before the ship ran aground. He also sent two text messages during a “critical time period” before a turn south should have been executed.
"Based on the finding of facts, the Coast Guard is recommending that marine operators develop and implement effective policies outlining when the use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices is appropriate or prohibited, and that vessel owners and operators ensure and promote crew awareness of policies regarding the duties and obligations of officers on watch for the safety of the ship, even when a pilot is embarked," a press release stated.
No one was hurt, and the ship wasn’t damaged.
The ship was freed on April 17.
“Had Pilot 1 refrained from drafting email correspondence, and placing and receiving personal or non-urgent professional calls, it is possible he would have maintained better situational awareness and properly executed the turn in a timely manner, avoiding the vessel grounding,” according to the report.
The investigation also found that the pilot only used one piece of equipment — his Portable Pilot Unit — to navigate the vessel and did not use any of the ships charts or equipment or navigational buoys that marked the channel's southern turn. The report said that if the pilot had used “all available means to determine the ship's location, the grounding likely would not have occurred.”
Cultural differences might have also played into the grounding. The report said other crew members on the bridge during the run-up to the grounding saw that the pilot was “frequently on his cellphone and appeared agitated." At one point, one officer, a Chinese national, thought the ship had missed where they were supposed to turn, but instead of telling the pilot directly the officer repeated the heading multiple times as a way to nudge the pilot.
The investigation found that the Chinese officer was hesitant to question the pilot's expertise. The report said this might have been due to the Chinese officer fearing he would offend the pilot or “cultural differences regarding seniority.”
The ship became stuck outside the shipping channel and did not block marine navigation, unlike last year’s high-profile grounding in the Suez Canal of its sister vessel, the Ever Given. That incident disrupted ship traffic and the global supply chain for days.
In a statement Tuesday, the Maryland Board of Pilots also said that they were suspending the pilot's operating license.
