EVER FORWARD

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Pilot gave up his licence

The pilot who guided the 'Ever Forward', when it ran aground off the coast of Gibson Island in pos. 39 06 39.6 N, 076 23 30.6 W, Chesapeake Bay on March 14, 2022, gave up his license. He also agreed to never apply for another license. In exchange, the Maryland Board of Pilots, which licenses and regulates ship pilots serving the Port of Baltimore, United States, agreed not to fine him.

After grounding: Maryland Board of Pilots decided to forbid pilots from using phones

After a distracted pilot ran the 'Ever Forward' aground in Chesapeake Bay on March 13, 2ß22, the Maryland Board of Pilots has decided to enact a rule change that forbids on-duty pilots from using their phones.  "The job of a state-licensed pilot requires absolute attention and focus on the job of safety piloting, navigating maneuvering, anchoring docking or undocking a vessel," board chairman Sandy Steeves stated. Maryland banned texting and driving in 2013, but it had still been technically legal to "text and pilot" merchant ships while in state waters. Investigators reviewed the vessel’s Voice Data Recorder and found that the pilot talked on the phone for about half of the 126 minute time period between leaving the berth and running aground. He had also been seen texting and writing an email on his phone, and he was writing an email when the turn was missed.  “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,” the Coast Guard concluded.  In October, the Maryland Board of Pilots suspended the license of the pilot involved, though it offered him an opportunity for a hearing to appeal the decision. The Association of Maryland Pilots and the Maryland Board of Pilots did not have cell phone policies at the time of the grounding. The U.S. Coast Guard does not have formal regulations on cell phone use, though it "strongly recommends vessel owners and operators to develop and implement effective operational policies."

Owners of the 'Ever Forward' pay Maryland more than $676,000

The owners of the 'Ever Forward' will pay Maryland more than $676,000 to enhance state oyster bars as a penalty for the ship running aground in the Chesapeake Bay on March 13, 2022. The motion was approved on Jan 4, 2023, at the Maryland Board of Public Works meeting. The payment goes toward enhancing and reseeding 41 acres of oyster bars to mitigate 624,485 sq. ft of impacts to a Natural Oyster Bar and open water habitat. The ship had got stuck 24 feet deep into the mud and was refloated only on April 17. Salvage crews dug out at least 84,000 cubic yards of mud from around the vessel.The U.S. Coast Guard and other coordinators removed 500 containers using crane barges between April 9 and April 16 during daylight hours only, according to authorities.