A salvage company is in the midst of a multiday dredging operation to free a massive container ship that has been aground in the Chesapeake Bay for almost two weeks.

The work is expected to continue for several more days before tug boats try to loosen the Ever Forward, according to the Coast Guard and ship owner Evergreen Marine Corp.

The company said the dredging began Sunday and involves digging mud out from around the 1,095-foot container ship to help it float again. Evergreen said in a statement that it would work with salvage firm Donjon Smit to assess the next steps in the operation.

The ship ran aground after departing Baltimore for Norfolk on March 13. Position data shows it missed a right turn in the deep shipping channel leading out of Baltimore and down the bay, becoming lodged on the bottom of the bay north of the Bay Bridge. It’s not clear whether the ship suffered a mechanical problem or the crew didn’t complete the turn.

“I can honestly say, I’ve seen plenty of vessels aground, but nothing like a vessel this big aground,” said Matt Benhoff, vice president of the Annapolis School of Seamanship, who has spent time on the water near the ship. “It’s not in the channel so it’s not blocking it for any other vessels … it’s not listing or leaning or anything.”

The ship is part of the same fleet as the larger Ever Given, which became wedged in the Suez Canal last year. The Ever Given snarled global shipping for almost a week until it was eventually freed. The Ever Forward is clear of the channel in the Chesapeake and officials say it doesn’t pose a danger to other shipping.

Images and video taken Monday by the Maritime Innovation and Safety Lab, a research organization, show a pair of dredgers scooping mud into barges near the stuck ship.

Sal Mercogliano, who hosts a YouTube show called “What’s Going on With Shipping?,” said he expects the plan is to pivot the stern of the ship and then use its engine to back it out. He said in an update on his show Wednesday that it appeared there was at least another week of dredging work ahead: “It may be mid-April before we see her move.”