Salvage crews pull hundreds of cargo containers from the stuck ship in the Chesapeake Bay.

A crane on a barge anchored on the port side of the Ever Forward removes cargo containers one by one and places them on a barge to bring them back to the Port of Baltimore.

The Ever Forward has been stranded since March 13, when it missed a turn in the shipping channel and ran aground.

After two weeks of dredging and two failed attempts to get the ship out of the mud, the plan is now to lighten the load, but unloading in open water is risky.

“I think you have to weigh that against the potential of leaving the ship aground for an extended period of time,” said Campbell University maritime historian Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. bottom, the more likely the hull will be damaged. I mean, it’s only a matter of time.

“They will start removing containers from the ship, but they will continue to dredge,” he said. “And what they need to do is lighten that ship.”

According to the US Coast Guard, on Saturday they removed 22 cargo containers and on Sunday another 21 containers were removed.

The Coast Guard said the goal was to remove 500 containers – about 7.5 tons – before trying to pull the vessel out of the mud again. The goal is April 18 when the tide will be at its highest.

The plan is to put a second crane and barge on the starboard side to speed up the process.