A pilot is at fault for the grounding of an Evergreen Marine-owned container ship off Baltimore in March, according to an investigation conducted by the US Coast Guard.

The 12,100-teu Ever Forward (built 2020) had left Seagrit Terminal with 4,964 boxes on the night of 13 March, when it soon failed to make a right turn to follow Craighill Channel and ended up in the shallows.

A unified command consisting of the Coast Guard, salvor Donjon-Smit and incident commander Witt O’Brien’s took five weeks to free the vessel by dredging around the ship and removing containers.