Impact of modern shipping assessed as boxship Ever Given grounding anniversary approaches

On the one year anniversary of the grounding of Panama-flagged containership Ever Given, and as another containership the Ever Forward got stuck in Chesapeake Bay in the US, international maritime charity Stella Maris has organised a timely webinar considering the rise of ultra-large containerships.

Modernisation in the Shipping Industry will be held on 23 March from 7.30pm to 9pm. It includes an online panel discussion looking at the history of the containership and the rise of ultra-large container vessels. It will explore what impact that modernisation of the shipping industry has had on seafarers around the world.

The panel will includes Bud Darr, executive vice president at MSC Group; Marc Levinson, economist and journalist; Stella Maris chaplain Anne McLaren; and other experts in the shipping industry.

Unlike Ever Given, which was owned and managed by Luster Maritime S.A. and Higaki Sangyo Kaisha Limited , the Hong Kong-flagged capacity Ever Forward belongs to the Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corporation Limited (Evergreen Line). It ran aground on March 13 2022 in Chesapeake Bay, and remained stuck for over a week but not blocking navigation to the Port of Baltimore while salvors investigated how to move the vessel according to reports. Mainstream media around the world are taking particular interest in the accident as the one year anniversary of the Ever Given grounding nears.

Holding webinars is part of the charity's wider organisation strategy, and this is the second of a series of five planned – the first one, in November 2021, dealt with modern slavery

• register for the Modernisation in the Shipping industry webinar