The 1,095-foot-long cargo ship that has been mired in the mud of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay for the past three weeks is being partially offloaded in an attempt to get it unstuck, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Following two failed attempts to free it, container removal began April 8 as part of the cargo ship’s refloat operation. The complex process uses cranes and barges located alongside the ship and will continue in daylight hours for a week with four to five containers being offloaded per hour. Approximately 550 containers are expected to be transferred in the hopes that the ship can then be pulled back into the channel.

Ever Forward belongs to Evergreen Marine Corp., the same company that owns the Ever Given cargo ship that caused massive global shipping delays when it blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal for six days in March 2021.

The Ever Forward is stuck in about 23 feet of water about 20 miles south of Baltimore, Maryland. It’s outside the deep-water shipping channel and not blocking ship traffic on the Chesapeake Bay.

The container vessel ran aground March 13 after leaving the Seagirt marine terminal in Baltimore. It was headed to Norfolk, Virginia, when it missed a turn, left the shipping channel and ran aground. The incident is under investigation to determine its cause.