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Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

1055 points by tilolebo 6y ago

davismwfl 6y ago
https://gcaptain.com/grounded-mega-ship-blocking-suez-canal-in-both-directions/ https://gcaptain.com/grounded-mega-ship-blocking-suez-canal-...
mperham 6y ago
Holy ship.
- avaldeso 6y ago
  Ship happens
  - Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
    It was buoy to happen at some point. Edit: should of ended it with “schooner or later”
    - lproven 6y ago
      Should have...
      - Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
        I bet your real fun at parties… Just so you know you are like the 1000th person to tell me that, if it’s not sunk in yet, it’s never going to.
        jamiek88 6y ago
        You’re
        Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
        Now that is a new one, because you’re is just a contraction which is not necessary in written English.
        sokoloff 6y ago
        They’re talking about > I bet your real fun at parties…
        Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
        See my brain is that bad at English I didn’t even see that one.
        tanbog2 6y ago
        Me fail English? Unpossible!
        Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
        The kid with learning difficulties struggling with English. It’s a shock I know. See it’s why the one/two word “correction” response comes off as such a dick move. It doesn’t actually help the other person. It either comes with zero meaning so offers no way to learn (if it’s actually meant as help which, I have my doubts that it actually is most of the time). Or it’s being said in a superior tone to someone who can not help it and has heard it soo many times it basically becomes an insult.
- scpedicini 6y ago
  Reddit is that way. That's where Dane Cook calibre word puns belong.
Sniffnoy 6y ago
Question: If the ship is called the "Ever Given", why does its side say "Evergreen" instead?
- dwater 6y ago
  Evergreen is a huge shipping company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine
- buildbot 6y ago
  It’s the shipping line, all their ships are named ever-something iirc https://www.evergreen-line.com/ https://www.evergreen-line.com/ Based out of Taiwan
- tilolebo 6y ago
  Maybe the company behind it? See similar vessels https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/EVER-GIVEN-IMO-9811000-MMSI-353136000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/EVER-GIVEN-IMO-9811000-...
- sebirocs 6y ago
  because the ship has no fucks "ever given" :P
- noarchy 6y ago
  It does say "Ever Given" near the front, albeit in much smaller size.
- robocat 6y ago
  Here’s a photo with the ship name “Ever Given” in smaller letters on the bow: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26560319 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26560319 The shipping company name “Evergreen” is in huge letters on the side of the ship.
shortlived 6y ago
Really interesting post! Thanks for sharing. How does something like this happen?
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  Loss of propulsion at the wrong time.
  - dgrin91 6y ago
    One post said that the ship was cutting off other ships, so possibly some reckless sailing as well.
    - jandrese 6y ago
      It's cutting off other ships because when it lost power it drifted sideways and blocked the canal. It's now stuck in both embankments and the only vessels getting past are very flat submarines.
      - pimlottc 6y ago
        GP is referencing a comment on Instagram [0] that states that it cut off another ship enter the channel /before/ it grounded: > @tjcsalisbury Yepp! And I believe they cut us off this morning entering the canal and then this happened and right after they ran aground the ship behind us lost power and almost hit us so it’s been a fun day lol but now we are just anchored here hopefully it won’t be to long but from the looks of it that ship is super stuck they had a bunch of tugs trying to pull and push it earlier but it was going nowhere there is a little excavator trying to dig out the bow 0: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMxEKHanW62/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CMxEKHanW62/
        _ah 6y ago
        ...which is interesting. Two unrelated ships lost power at the same location on the same day? Curious.
bellyfullofbac 6y ago
I guess it won't be too hard to unjam it, but imagine how the world would change if it does get stuck, everyone would now have to go around Africa, probably boosting a few African economies. A bit like how a tiny bat (citation needed?) changed the course of the world for at least a year.
- towergratis 6y ago
  > a tiny bat (citation needed?) changed the course of the world for at least a year It wasn't a tiny bat, or a lab accident that changed the course of the world. It was a corrupt non democratic government trying to hide it under the carpet, in similar fashion that a similar government in USSR try to hide under the carpet the biggest nuclear accident in its time.
  - lucian1900 6y ago
    Covid was detected in China and the world was alerted. Most other countries didn’t even react, though. That’s hardly on China. From the data we have so far, it was already present and undetected in Europe the year before. It may have originated in Europe, but that isn’t yet clear. Don’t fall to western chauvinism.
    - osacial 6y ago
      China reported to WHO, that it had EVERYTHING under control and that virus was not lethal to humans. China is west to the USA.
      - lucian1900 6y ago
        At the time it was not yet know that the virus is lethal, that’s all that was reported. Everything was also under control in China, as was later confirmed. Unfortunately by the time the virus was detected in China, it was already spread throughout Europe, since at least November 2019. I really didn’t expect this sort of rejection of science and facts on HN.
gumby 6y ago
Classic DOS attack. Cui bono?
- detritus 6y ago
  I don't think I'd ever considered prior to now how much more economic it would be to release "The one nuclear bomb [TerroristOrganisation] can afford to muster" in a shipping choke-point, rather than a city. So, another thing to worry about :)
  - Ekaros 6y ago
    Dozen or so ships would be enough to blockade both Suez and Panama... That would cause substantial damage to global shipping industry... Not even that expensive. Hundred or two hundred million would do...
    - cycomanic 6y ago
      Panama is not that busy. A much better target would be the kiel canal (Nord- Ostsee Kanal in German), which is the busiest waterway in the world 25000 ships yearly vs 19000 ships for the Suez vs 12000 for Panama.
  - jandrese 6y ago
    For the Suez Canal a huge bomb is just going to make it bigger and easier to navigate in one spot. Blow up the locks for the Panama Canal and you have some seriously inconvenienced shipping companies. But even in both cases the result is that they have to take the long way around. It makes the shipping slower and more expensive, but it was a tiny fraction of your costs to begin with so most companies survive just fine.
    - paranoidrobot 6y ago
      I suspect it's not the use of the bomb that is the biggest concern. I would think someone with a bomb on some kind of bulk Hazmat carrier and the threat of blowing it up would shut down traffic for a lot longer. Nobody is going to want to get close to do anything about it. LNG or Oil are the two I can think of, but there's probably a lot of other bulk Hazmat carriers.
mongol 6y ago
This worries me. What if it becomes stuck for real?
- aerovistae 6y ago
  Then they'll fix it. That's what engineers do. :)
  - ls612 6y ago
    Disclaimer: Fixing it may involve high explosives and loss of property
    - k3liutZu 6y ago
      At some point that will become cheaper than delaying everything else.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  Scrap
capableweb 6y ago
If you go to vesselfinder you can follow the drama in real-time! Seems it's still stuck: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000
- fsagx 6y ago
  Cool. It even shows the 7 tugs trying to help.
  - tim333 6y ago
    I was looking up how hard can a tug tug. Wikipedia seems to imply 65 tons is normal.
- zests 6y ago
  This link is extremely interesting. Keep zooming out all the way if you haven't already.
  - oliv__ 6y ago
    Wow. The magnitude of global trade is insane!
    - yrro 6y ago
      As is the environmental harm
      - arnaudsm 6y ago
        Super-ships emit ~5g_Co2/Ton/km on average[1], while railway is 2-35g, air transport is 700-3000g and truck transport is 100-2000g. Surprisingly, the bigger the boat the more effective. We tend to have a bias against larger machines, but often they can be the cleanest in proportion. [1] https://www.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/assets/documents/86275_7715-guide-information-co2-transporteurs.pdf#page=80 https://www.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/assets/documents/86...
jandrese 6y ago
According to the Twitter feed there is now a excavator trying to dig out the bow. It really shows off the scale as the excavator looks like a tiny toy next to the massive container ship. https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374468169784459267/photo/2 https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374468169784459267/pho...
- danaos 6y ago
  Uhhh it's in Wikipedia's "largest container ships" list! [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ship...
  - noarchy 6y ago
    >Uhhh it's in Wikipedia's "largest container ships" list! Off-topic, but does anyone else find it odd to find fillers like "umm" and "uhh" to be typed out on sites like HN or reddit?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - stransky 6y ago
      Ummmm...no?
    - reducesuffering 6y ago
      No it contributes to more natural conversation, illustrating the commenter’s thought process.
      - noarchy 6y ago
        I didn’t think that “natural” conversation was an actual goal on HN. You see this particularly in the way that humour (among other things) is often downvoted and discouraged.
yosito 6y ago
Does anyone have some insight on how this could affect global supply chains, depending on how long the canal is blocked? It seems like it's been blocked for a day or so, and there's already a pretty big queue. I'd imagine that has to have some significant impacts already.
- lmilcin 6y ago
  I don't think this will impact. There is already a lot of possibility of delays, for example ships taking detours due to bad weather systems, etc. Nobody plans success of their production based on the ship arriving on exact day.
- mattashii 6y ago
  Global trade will probably only be significantly impacted if the canal stays blocked for more than 2 weeks, which is when it starts to become a reasonable option (time-wise) to go south instead and round the cape. A backlog of ships on both sides will start to be really significant after 4 days of blocking, with longer blockade implying ports increasingly further down the routes being impacted as well. Currently, the worst that probably is happening is that the local logistics sector (train, truck, etc.) is in re-booking hell to handle the suddenly delayed ships. src: I work at a container-logistics software company, and we've handled and seen similar situations (sudden loss of a main class of transport for a few days).
  - hef19898 6y ago
    Yep. Operationally, things like that are interesting. Global as a whole usually recovers pretty well. Might drive container and shipping rates a tad more so. Truck and train will probably see an increase as well on the China-Europe route if it takes too long.
  - sabas_ge 6y ago
    Add to the fact that we had equipment shortage for a while these months (hi from a shipping agency)...
carols10cents 6y ago
In a chapter of "Ninety Percent of Everything", the author rides a container ship through the Suez Canal and relates what it's like, if this has piqued your interest about the shipping industry. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16044961-ninety-percent-of-everything https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16044961-ninety-percent-...
- dmux 6y ago
  It definitely has. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll be checking it out!
- u678u 6y ago
  Aren't they just a dozen Filipinos or Russians keeping the boat clean while the auto pilot makes a slight adjustment every few hours? I'm not sure how exciting it would be.
  - alisonatwork 6y ago
    I haven't read the book, but I have traveled on a container ship through the Suez Canal. It's not really what I would call exciting, but it is fairly interesting. It takes less than a day to transit, and the scenery is relatively varied - you get to see urban areas, some rural farmland, beaches, and full out desert. Both in front and behind are dozens of massive container ships, just as big as the one you're on. It's quite humbling. All this is in contrast to the rest of the time you are onboard. You are right that not very much happens. The ocean is very, very big. The vast majority of the time you can't see any land, or any other ships. If you don't have a satellite receiver of your own, there is no internet, no news, no nothing. Sometimes there is a storm. Sometimes there is a sunset. Most of the time there's nothing of note. I found it really relaxing, but it's definitely not for everyone. It's also a very expensive way to travel compared to commercial airlines or even long distance rail.
    - arduinomancer 6y ago
      How does one end up traveling on a container ship? Is that something you can pay to do?
nickkell 6y ago
Let's hope all those backed up ships aren't stuck as long as these chaps: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleet
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  > Cargo: Eggs, fruit Yikes.
  - nickkell 6y ago
    From what I recall they wanted to sell apples to the Egyptians, but the government refused. The crew ended up throwing the cargo overboard before it could perish. I heard about this originally from a great German podcast "Geschichten aus der Geschichte": https://www.geschichte.fm/podcast/zs180/ https://www.geschichte.fm/podcast/zs180/
- Invictus0 6y ago
  I watched a great video about this a few days ago: https://youtu.be/4DiXRCo7eBs https://youtu.be/4DiXRCo7eBs
Nekhrimah 6y ago
Footage of the backlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhSzxe0FuIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhSzxe0FuIE Presumably in the Gulf of Suez.
- u678u 6y ago
  Its just incredible how big the world is and how much stuff is getting produced and consumed. These ships are huge.
- biosed 6y ago
  Video was removed.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
lmilcin 6y ago
Seeing how it is positioned, the worst case is that they will not be able to move it and they will have to remove some of the load. This might take a day or three depending on how difficult it is going to get a crane and a ship positioned to take the load off.
er4hn 6y ago
Any fans of What We Do in the Shadows here? Getting strong vibes from the second season when Colin Robinson parks his car across the entrance to the Lincoln tunnel.
sbhn 6y ago
Its time to create a canal through israel
walrus01 6y ago
a video from 4 months ago, what it normally looks like to transit the canal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdU2cYRbnM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdU2cYRbnM
- jansan 6y ago
  At the end of the video he says that he estimates the transit toll for his ship to be around 200,000$. Wow!
  - alwayshumans 6y ago
    One interesting thing is the toll often fluctuates due to the oil price. If the toll is deemed to be too high a vessel always has the option of going around the Cape. Realistically it's always an option but the added time plus the additional wear on a vessel makes it undesirable.
  - tasuki 6y ago
    Some back-of-the-napkin calculations: The ship's got over 20k containers, so less than $10 per container. Shipping a container from Asia to Europe costs thousands of dollars, so passing through the canal is less than 1% of the cost. Sounds fair to me?
    - jansan 6y ago
      The ship in the video is not a container ship but a taker or bulk cargo ship, so you cannot calculate this way. But I am sure it is not much if you divide the toll fee by total shipping cost or even the value of the cargo. It was just the total sum that I found impressive.
      - tasuki 6y ago
        Oh, good point - I mixed it up with Ever Given. Agreed $200k is a lot, but probably totally insignificant compared to the major costs (fuel, wear & tear). Maintaining the channel seems to be a lot of work... like when ships crash into the bank and block it.
deleted 6y ago
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kjrose 6y ago
This is fascinating. I wonder if it really was solidly trapped if they would resort to essentially scuttling it just to get it out of the way faster.
- herendin2 6y ago
  The canal isn't very deep there. Scuttling it would make the situation much worse
  - wang_li 6y ago
    It has like 50cm clearance. If it “sank” you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking.
    - tleb_ 6y ago
      Do you have a source? The boat's draught is 15.7m according to [0] and the Suez canal supports ships with a draft up to 20m and is 23m to 24m deep.[1] [0] https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal#Capacity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal#Capacity
      - wang_li 6y ago
        Am I misreading the AIS data there? I read that to mean that it's a 15.7m vessel in 16m water.
        mikey_p 6y ago
        I believe that is stating that it draws a maximum of 16m, but is currently drawing 15.7m
  - kjrose 6y ago
    My bad. I didn't mean scuttle and leave there. I meant take apart with welding torches. Not sure what the proper term is for that. However they got it moving so we are all good to go.
matthewaveryusa 6y ago
Ha, I happened to see it leave Boston August of last year and snapped a photo of it because it was jaw dropping big (and I’m not a boat person!) the Evergreen had 4 tugboats guiding it. Yeah that thing isn’t moving without professional help. https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Ywgot5wmK6HDNoV6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Ywgot5wmK6HDNoV6 Edit: so this is the “ever living” that’s 335 meters long. The ever given is 400 meters long
- TimWolla 6y ago
  That's another ship. The tweet is about "Ever Given", not "Evergreen". Edit: Comparing with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ships#/media/File:EVER_GIVEN_(49643352087)_(cropped).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ship... it might or might not have been the ship. Evergreen is the name of the company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine
  - Kye 6y ago
    Evergreen is the company. Ever Given is the ship.
  - benchtobedside 6y ago
    Same one - check out the pictures in the OP. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExL7VGtVoAYIBKo?format=jpg&name=medium https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExL7VGtVoAYIBKo?format=jpg&name=...
    - TimWolla 6y ago
      Looking at GP's foto again I believe the name of the ship they photographed ends with a 'G'. But I also realized my mistake with mixing up the ship's name with the company name.
  - matthewaveryusa 6y ago
    There you have it, shows you how much I know about boats, although the more I’ve been reading this thread the more interested I am about learning more about the industry.
Kye 6y ago
Can anyone familiar with shipping offer an explanation for this track other than the funny, obvious, and probably wrong one? https://twitter.com/KyeFox/status/1374513117326024705 https://twitter.com/KyeFox/status/1374513117326024705
- soneil 6y ago
  Only familiar with much, much smaller boats - but that's not unusual for station-keeping (or anchoring, but I expect a moon-shaped track at anchor). To be super clear, I'm extrapolating from 30ft boats, I could be wildly wrong in any of this. In a nutshell you don't stay still, you drift around with wind and currents (and breeze-block shaped ships have a lot of windage!). So you drift off station, motor back, rinse repeat. ('Station' is usually a box you're bound to rather than a point you try to hit, for exactly this reason) Anchor isn't much different - a cargo ship in an anchorage isn't a static fixture, it's realistically the world's largest windsock. Compare another ship waiting in the same area - https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 Hit the "Track" button on the sidebar (under the photo of the ship), and you'll see a similar history. Theirs is tighter, but that could simply be a product of it getting crowded. I'd expect EG's arrival to be more planned, less chaotic - arrive, assemble the convoy, join the queue and go.
- sabas_ge 6y ago
  It's the GPS position transmitted via AIS, it's like your phone while you are in a static position but on a bigger scale...
aasasd 6y ago
Sorta makes me wonder why another ship, larger than a tugboat, couldn't hitch it with a tow rope (whatever the marine term) and give it a jerk. I get that ships aren't normally expected to do that, but you know, probably need larger tugboats for gigantic ships.
- morei 6y ago
  Amusingly enough, the tugs not uncommonly have more thrust. Large ships are _heavily_ optimized for the common case, which is sailing at about 13.5 knots. They take a very long time to get up to speed because their propulsion is sized to be just enough to overcome resistance at their typical cruising speed. Consequently, it would be difficult to get another ship up to any sort of speed in a short enough distance. Even if you could, the the momentum is absurdly high so it's much more likely that any sort of chain would snap, or the attachment point would break than that the aground ship would actually move. (The aground ship has a deadweight of approx 200,000 tonnes)
  - emmelaich 6y ago
    Related - These Mini-Ships Teach Pilots How to Navigate Major Waterways https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDrFiQq1_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDrFiQq1_k Looks like fun actually!
  - NamTaf 6y ago
    Expanding on your comment, it's analogous to torque vs speed in cars. You wouldn't use a Ferrari to tow just because it has a high top speed and lots of top-end power. You'd use something with high torque down low and good gearing. Similarly, tugs use different propeller setups (e.g. ducted props for extra power, or vectored systems such as azimuth thrusters or cyclorotors for extra manuverability), which just cause extra drag if all you're doing is cruising at a fixed speed throughout oceans. A big container ship trying to tow something is not unlike having a high-speed racecar spin its wheels. It's not designed to put that torque down at low speed and lift a big trailing mass.
- justin66 6y ago
  Based on the photos, the most useful vector a tug (of any strength) might take is not available. Yanking the ship backwards, off the bank, would work nicely but pulling its bow 35 degrees through the bank is pretty rough.
darness-2 6y ago
Shoul've expanded their canal, just like panama did recently
- macintux 6y ago
  They just did (2015?), that’s the only reason this one was able to fit through.
- swilliamsio 6y ago
  When the canals expand, the ships get bigger too.
- astura 6y ago
  They did! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal_Area_Development_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal_Area_Development_Pr...
oliv__ 6y ago
Tengential but I am always curious what software these huge logistics company use to manage their business. From my outsider's perspective, it seems like a best-in-class-software enabled company would have a massive advantage over the rest. Interested to hear if anyone has insights about this
- bobby_bob 6y ago
  There were some interesting profiles following the NotPetya attack on Maersk in 2017 where Maersk claimed to have 1,200 - 1,500 applications, 49,000 laptops, 6,200 servers. Maersk are entering into block-chain "distributed ledger technology" with IBM and similar modern solutions. But one article put $300 of every $2,000 of shipping costs for administration and paperwork[0]. I think you're right, there is a massive advantage to be had, and companies are chasing that advantage. But from my (tangential logistics) background, even the biggest shipping companies have the usual range of legacy systems, heavy administration overhead, plenty of paperwork, excel-based-tools and huge integration headaches. 0 - https://www.supplychaindigital.com/technology-4/maersk-and-ibm-are-bringing-blockchain-tech-shipping-industry https://www.supplychaindigital.com/technology-4/maersk-and-i...
  - oliv__ 6y ago
    > 300 of every $2,000 of shipping costs for administration and paperwork Damn that's a lot. I understand this is a capital intensive industry so I guess it's hard/impossible to get in now but it seems like if someone started a competitor from scratch and had great software as the foundation of their company, they'd make a killing
    - bombcar 6y ago
      15% overhead is actually pretty low all things considering.
      - jacurtis 6y ago
        Yeah the cost for paperwork and administration in aviation is over 50%.
stevespang 6y ago
Time to break out the lift bags. 10,000 of them all roped together below water line, then inflate.
soheil 6y ago
How is it that something like this just happened now? The canal has been open for decades, is it that they probably loaded one extra container on a ship like this and that was the straw that broke the camel's back?
- bombcar 6y ago
  Ship lost power and began to drift and got wedged in. If necessary I guess they’ll have to unload it somehow.
walrus01 6y ago
I wonder how effective two giant ground based winches would be, pulling on the mooring attachment points, on diagonally opposite sides of the ship? If it remains stuck, perhaps they might need to bring in a suction dredger to work on the area around the bow?
- jacquesm 6y ago
  They would pull it down as well as sideways.
spiritplumber 6y ago
They’ll have to slowly rock her back and forth in the roll axis while they pull to get her aligned with the canal again. Use earthmovers.
- system2 6y ago
  Let's hope someone from the canal operations read your comment.
testfoobar 6y ago
Compare the red/black line on the ship's hull and the water line. Under normal conditions, the red/black line is parallel to the water across the length of the ship: https://www.google.com/search?q=evergreen+ever+given&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVg6uXmcjvAhUcIDQIHctmDLcQ_AUoA3oECAEQBQ&biw=1313&bih=749 https://www.google.com/search?q=evergreen+ever+given&source=... In this picture of the ship stuck in the Suez, the red/black line appears to tilt noticeably upwards towards the bow: https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1374480496789393412 https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1374480496789393412 If this isn't some sort of optical illusion, the bow of the ship appears runaground by quite a bit.
- kerpele 6y ago
  I’m not a ship engineer but I do know that ships are not built to be suspended from the ends. I guess in the worst case the hull breaks which would mean the canal to be blocked for quite a while.
  - herendin2 6y ago
    That's usually only a real problem when the ship is suspended in the air, between wavetops. This one is still in the water, though maybe it has a little less support in the center than normal
  - jjk166 6y ago
    Ships actually are designed to be suspended from the ends. Ocean going vessels are going to experience wave crests which can be any length apart, including the full length of the ship.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- mixmax 6y ago
  All ships of this size have a number of large ballast tanks that they use to pump seawater in and out to compensate for placement of cargo. My guess would be that they've emptied the ballast tanks in the end that has run aground and filled them in the other end to rise the keel.
instakill 6y ago
Assuming the canal remains blocked for 10 - 14 days, what WSB moves would you make in the stock market given this scenario?
- orthoxerox 6y ago
  Any public companies with large Mi-26 fleets?
al3xandre 6y ago
Three questions: 1. How easy would it be to pay a container ship’s captain to do that ? 2. Can you then bet on short term commodity futures to benefits from the event significantly? 3. Do you think this is what’s happening ?
- gonzo 6y ago
  Normally the ship’s captain isn’t in-charge in the canal. The Suez Port Authority has pilots you have to hire for that.
  - glitchcrab 6y ago
    Correct; I believe the canal's authority has liability here as they provide the mandatory pilot for the duration of the transit.
    - jandrese 6y ago
      The captain may still be liable if the ship ended up like that due to mechanical failure.
    - pmyteh 6y ago
      Certainly in cases of collision the owners of the vessel retain liability even with a Suez Canal pilot on board[0]. It's possible that they then have a claim against the canal company for provision of negligent piloting, but I don't know that. [0]: https://www.reedsmith.com/en/perspectives/2020/10/when-common-sense-prevails-liability-finding-in-ship-collision-suez-canal https://www.reedsmith.com/en/perspectives/2020/10/when-commo... - and the (linked) full judgment is also interesting; the pilot of the ship that caused the collision wasn't doing a good job on that occasion!
  - raptorraver 6y ago
    I've understood that (in Finland at least) the pilot's aren't actually steering the ship but giving instructions for the captain.
- willyt 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
p1mrx 6y ago
Ever given run aground and divert you.
jacquesm 6y ago
This is going to take a while. And it puts the other boats in the canal in a pickle as well, they can't exactly back out (easily, or even at all).
person_of_color 6y ago
This system seems messed up and is ready for disruption. Lets replace gigantic container ships with a worldwide flock of drones following the sun 24/7.
_Microft 6y ago
Here is another accident of the "Ever Given" in Hamburg [0] in which a harbour ferry suffered a total loss after being rammed by her. Supposed cause was an unfortunate combination of slow speeds and severe wind which seems to be a difficult situation for ships as tall as these. Maybe a similar combination of events happened here? [0] https://www.mopo.de/hamburg/frachter-rammt-faehre-knapp-an-der-katastrophe-vorbei-32016794 https://www.mopo.de/hamburg/frachter-rammt-faehre-knapp-an-d...
- chki 6y ago
  Wow, the same ship with a very unusual accident just 14 Months ago. A very bad look and hints to a deeper systemic issue that was not fixed.
  - brazzy 6y ago
    The cause for that accident seems to have been strong wind, which apparently makes these huge ships very hard or even impossible to maneuver when they are going slow. If true, then the "systemic issue" is only that ships are getting too big.
    - lmilcin 6y ago
      Hi. Skipper here (nothing of the size of the ship in question, obviously:). Ships of ANY size are hard or impossible to maneuver when they are going slow and have a blackout. The size doesn't matter. The control surfaces only work when they move with regards to water. The ship that does not move is uncontrollable with rudder and it needs to use something else to help it maneuver. This something else can be a tugboat that rotates the ship by the force it can generate, or it can be thrusters. Thrusters aren't propulsion method and they are relatively small and can counter only so much wind.
      - speexmex 6y ago
        Isn't this why new ships are starting to have multiple 360 degree electrical drivers instead of one big propeller? I think they are called iso-pods.
brnt 6y ago
Taiwanese company blocks much of Chinas trade with Europe at a moment where there has been sabbre rattling. Wonderful coincidence!
devpbrilius 6y ago
Amazing, it's Panama channel China resident.
ragebol 6y ago
How does a huge ship like that get stuck in that orientation wrt. the canal? These things don't really turn on a dime I presume. Edit: Go to https://www.myshiptracking.com/ https://www.myshiptracking.com/ and use the Playback button with timestamp 23/03/2021 06:15:00 to see the ship drifting left and right.
- donalhunt 6y ago
  From one of the twitter threads on the topic: "power blackout". So likely the ship was uncontrollable and drifted into the bank. There seems to be evidence that there its bulbous bow is embedded in the bank.
  - ragebol 6y ago
    Aha, that explains. The sheer inertia of a ship like this, almost unimaginable. That'll jam that bow in there good.
  - akg_67 6y ago
    As I shared in another comment according to NHK News in Japan, poor visibility due to sand storm was the cause. It is a Japanese ship operated by Taiwanese company.
  - myself248 6y ago
    Can you find that tweet again? I'm scouring every link I can find and I seem to have lost it. In particular, there was one where someone said another ship behind them _also_ lost power/control around the same time and almost rear-ended them. I would really love to find that tweet again.
- mzs 6y ago
  Thanks for describing how the playback feature works, there's another vessel two back that ran into trouble as well: https://gfycat.com/JointFirmGrayling https://gfycat.com/JointFirmGrayling
konjin 6y ago
https://twitter.com/MarineTraffic/status/1374650543344390147?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet https://twitter.com/MarineTraffic/status/1374650543344390147... It's pretty insane that I can track what ship is where on the other side of the planet in real time.
- dylan604 6y ago
  too bad airplane don't have the same ability, otherwise, we'd know where MH370 went
  - konjin 6y ago
    They do: https://www.flightradar24.com/ https://www.flightradar24.com/ They even found debris from it in the places they expected: https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/searching-for-mh370-two-years-later/ https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/searching-for-mh370-two-y...
  - pjerem 6y ago
    Not sure if you are trolling or not but ... https://www.flightradar24.com/ https://www.flightradar24.com/
  - mattashii 6y ago
    > too bad airplane don't have the same ability Airplanes have ADS-B, which is quite similar to the maritime AIS location broadcasting. The only significant difference is that satellite AIS coverage is high and ships don't go fast, so having no signal for a few hours is not as big a problem for ships. ADS-B satellite coverage is currently provided by (at least) the iridium constellation, but that only came into effect in 2016.
roschdal 6y ago
What does this blockage of the canal mean for investments in oil cargo ships? Will the rates for oil cargo ships increase because they will sail around Africa instead?
Ichthypresbyter 6y ago
The BBC article [0] is saying that apparently an older parallel channel has been reopened. Does anyone know where this might be? I can't find a parallel channel that would bypass this blockage... [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56505413 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56505413
- lifthrasiir 6y ago
  Indeed, the ship is stranded between the Small Bitter Lake and the Suez Port so there seems to be no bypass available. (The New Suez Canal doesn't cover this particular range.)
austinjp 6y ago
Genuine question: why "EVER GIVEN" when "EVERGREEN" is written on the side of the ship? Someone with insider knowledge: is this a typo or similar error? How does it happen and proliferate without being corrected?
- cotillion 6y ago
  Evergreen is the shipping line which owns the ship. I guess they name their ships Ever <something>.
- mkl 6y ago
  From the Twitter thread: "For the confused: MV EVER GIVEN's operator is Evergreen Marine (https://evergreen-line.com https://evergreen-line.com) and Ever___ is a naming convention for some vessels."
- skore 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given vs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine
- manigandham 6y ago
  "Evergreen" is the name of the shipping company. "Ever Given" is the name of the ship and written in smaller font on the bow and (always) on the stern.
- anu7df 6y ago
  I think Evergreen is the shipping company. The name of the ship could be Ever Given.
- wscott 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ship... scroll down to #13 and read the names of the sister ships. The evergreen shipping line has 7 identical ships named "Ever XXX"
- eloisius 6y ago
tcpekin 6y ago
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1374438210315513864.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1374438210315513864.html
brisky 6y ago
I think this could possibly be the black swan event.
- dmos62 6y ago
  It would be ironic if this spiralled into a global crisis, that spiraled into something else, until, finally, we're all cave people again. I think conspiracy theorists are having a field day.
- speexmex 6y ago
  Experts said this will be solved in at most 3 days.
  - gabagoo 6y ago
    experts have said a lot of things this year...
m3kw9 6y ago
Damn, imagine having to go around South America as a detour.
- Swenrekcah 6y ago
  Unless I’m very much mistaken, the Suez is in Egypt, so the detour would be around Africa.
  - vbezhenar 6y ago
    Considering the threat from Nigeria pirates, they probably will just wait until everything resolves.
    - cycomanic 6y ago
      ? This is the first time I hear about Nigerian pirates. The problem several years ago were Somalian pirates, which incidentally are next to the Suez route.
      - vbezhenar 6y ago
        https://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map https://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-...
  - saalweachter 6y ago
    I mean, technically you could detour around South America it just probably isn't recommended. I wonder if, if you're a container ship leaving China today, headed for Europe, if it makes sense to head for Panama instead, purely on the metric of time, or if you're still better off either rounding Africa or just waiting for the Suez to clear. (I assume from a fuel/logistics point it is cheapest just to wait.)
- devdas 6y ago
  Around the horn of Africa. The Suez canal is in Egypt, Africa. The Panama canal in in Panama, central America. You are thinking of the wrong channel.
darkwater 6y ago
So, fellow Europeans, prepare for a longer delivery time for most of your items starting from, I don't know, 10 days from now? What's the buffer size for most of the products in, say, an Amazon Fulfillment facility?
- fifilura 6y ago
  Also, I expect this kind of stop will cause the ships to be lining up in the unloading facilities in e.g. Rotterdam, so there will be secondary obstructions beyond the time the canal is blocked.
- pharke 6y ago
  Be prepared for an oil shock as well.
- AniseAbyss 6y ago
  Well isn't it nice of the Chinese to invest in rail!
tilolebo 6y ago
https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374674714854105093?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374674714854105093?... The Twitter account of this transit services agency provides some updates. I already saw multiple French news sites stating that the canal has been unblocked, but apparently that's not true. I wonder where that news came from.
- tilolebo 6y ago
  https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374634054096723970?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374634054096723970?... 2 dredges and a larger tug underway to help unblocking the Ever Given.
  - tilolebo 6y ago
    1st dredger "10th of Ramadan" has arrived, 2nd dredger "Mashhour" should be on the scene very soon too. The tide is at its highest level of the day. Expecting some action in the next hour!
tilolebo 6y ago
Tide should apparently play a major role in unblocking the vessel, according to https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374708535603433472?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374708535603433472?... Live local tide: https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Suez-Egypt/tides/latest https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Suez-Egypt/tides/lat...
- fullstop 6y ago
  I am hopeful, but for some unfounded reason I'm giving it equal chances of suffering from structural failure when that happens and dumping shipping containers into the canal. I was able to find news reports of the canal being dredged in 2015 but nothing since then. edit: I see that they've already had one high tide opportunity which did not dislodge the vessel. From your tide chart link, I can see that the tides get progressively deeper until the end of the month, but that is a long time to be stuck there.
andrewla 6y ago
Partially refloated! [1] Apparently they're going to move it aside so traffic can start to get through. [1] https://twitter.com/GlobalHogg/status/1374709733614100487 https://twitter.com/GlobalHogg/status/1374709733614100487
- bombcar 6y ago
  The original link says that this is apparently a misinformed rumor.
- joncrane 6y ago
  Nope, still stuck as of this post. It's easy to check: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000
DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
relevant: > If this AIS track is genuine, the captain of Ever Given has written one hell of a resignation letter... https://twitter.com/TheDreadShips/status/1374654080082120704 https://twitter.com/TheDreadShips/status/1374654080082120704 I'll kindly ask everyone to refrain from cracking "yo-mamma" jokes. thanks :)
- posterboy 6y ago
  Do the ships have remote control options?
  - DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
    they often do at least the smaller vessels[1]. should be able to find interesting exposed endpoints on shodan. Pentest-Partners did a post[2] on interfering with load management software in container ships. [1] https://www.livewire-connections.com/sites/default/files/files/documents/SAILOR900IM-98-133400-F-var-A-screen.pdf https://www.livewire-connections.com/sites/default/files/fil... [2] https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/sinking-container-ships-by-hacking-load-plan-software/ https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/sinking-contai...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ohples 6y ago
One thing I learned from reading about this is that Rotterdam is the destination of a large amount of China to Europe trade. Is there really not a suitably developed Mediterranean port closer to Suez? Is there work on one?
- jaggirs 6y ago
  I think the issue here is how well connected such a port would be. From Rotterdam you can go all the way to Germany through a river. Not sure you could do the same from a port in the Mediterranean, as the terrain tends to be mountainous there.
  - margalabargala 6y ago
    The Danube river flows into the Black Sea from Germany, though I have no idea if it's navigable for ships of the same size as would go to Rotterdam. Nothing from the Mediterranean.
  - posterboy 6y ago
    The issue is that north north west europe is densely populated, and well developed, metropolitan as you say, highly urbanized and comparably wealthy. Add to that, the Dutch have been a maritime nation at least since colonial times. While one of the biggest ports lies at the footsteps of Athens, the economic power of neighbourg countries is not quite as strong.
- awhitby 6y ago
  There's no reason to do this. Shipping cost is disproportionately affected by loading/unloading, and every other type of transport is more expensive (per mile travelled). So what you actually want to do is take the ship as close as possible to the goods' final destination, and minimize trucking and rail and so on. I'm not sure exactly where the "economic center" of Europe is but maps of gridded GDP [0] or nightlights [1] suggests Rotterdam is a pretty good choice. (Also don't forget the Alps.) [0] https://bit.ly/31h1hsK https://bit.ly/31h1hsK [1] https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2012/03/Night_lights_in_Europe https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2012/03/Night_ligh...
fumblebee 6y ago
This incident has already been added to opening section for the Suez Canal Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal I wonder what makes something significant enough to be added to this section. A quick scan of the page shows some interesting tidbits that aren't present in the opening (to me, more noteworthy - so far - than the ongoing blockage): > The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on world trade. Combined with the American transcontinental railroad completed six months earlier, it allowed the world to be circled in record time. > In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the canal was the scene of a major crossing by the Egyptian army into Israeli-occupied Sinai and a counter-crossing by the Israeli army to Egypt. Much wreckage from this conflict remains visible along the canal's edges.
- frederikvs 6y ago
  Once the event is over, I suspect people will review the page and decide that this has no place in the opening section. Then it'll move down to its rightful place. Right now it's more a matter of racing to be as up-to-date as possible, rather than actually weighing the merits of having this in the opening section.
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  This is a big ship. There's no nearby facility to unload or service it. Its not something you bring tools in your pickup truck to solve the problem. If its not immediately resolvable with the ships own facilities, then its not clear it can be solved in less than a-long-time. Maybe years? Its 200 million pounds. It holds 20,000 units. To unload it would take building a facility on-site. And maybe a rail line to carry the cargo away. I have hopes the tug solution will solve it. But if not, then there's probably no easy solution at all. Not one that costs less than a billion dollars?
  - piokoch 6y ago
    I think it can be done faster, there are people specialized in such tasks: https://www.smit.com/#view/map https://www.smit.com/#view/map but yes, you are right, this is not going to be 2h fix.
pazimzadeh 6y ago
Is this gonna cause the next recession or what
_nickwhite 6y ago
Update: According to Reuters, the ship has been partially refloated & moved so other traffic can go past. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-suezcanal-ship-restart-idUSKBN2BG1M4 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-suezcanal-ship-rest...
- joncrane 6y ago
  Nope, still stuck as of this post. It's easy to check: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000
PeterStuer 6y ago
From photos the boat has a giant "Evergreen" lettering on its side. Like the other disaster. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/24/middleeast/suez-canal-container-ship-intl-hnk/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/24/middleeast/suez-canal-con...
mzs 6y ago
50cm sat image: https://twitter.com/capellaspace/status/1374758445304397825 https://twitter.com/capellaspace/status/1374758445304397825
tilolebo 6y ago
https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374836312860151808?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374836312860151808?... As of 2330 (GMT+2) M/V EVER GIVEN, no. 5 in the 23rd of March NB convoy remains #grounded in the #SuezCanal. Vessel no. 6, 7 & 8 will be assisted by tugs back to Suez anchorage area, clearing space for M/V EVER GIVEN to be towed out the same way as she entered once re-floated. https://t.co/ltXEyRZtqX https://t.co/ltXEyRZtqX Looks like it's going to take a while...
- tilolebo 6y ago
  Re-floating operation has been temporarily suspended and will resume Thursday morning.
  - MuffinFlavored 6y ago
    Can anybody speak as to why they are able to get the ship no longer stuck horizontal, but still need to drag it out the way it came? Why can't it just go forward on the path it was headed on?
    - bootloop 6y ago
      Because it ran its front into ground, it's not just grounded. See front picture: https://mobile.twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374725707738267648/photo/2 https://mobile.twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374725707738267...
- tilolebo 6y ago
  https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374864596192927746?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374864596192927746?... "The #grounding of M/V EVER GIVEN in the #SuezCanal has caused transit delays. Current traffic situation is as follows: 71 vessels at Suez Anchorage awaiting NB transit 79 vessels awaiting SB transit of which 34 are anchored at Great Bitter Lake & 45 at Port Said Outer Anchorage" 150 vessels blocked
morei 6y ago
Best summary to date: https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1136229/Suez-Canal-remains-blocked-despite-efforts-to-refloat-grounded-Ever-Given https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL113622... TL;DR: Ship has not been refloated, "an initial investigation has ruled out any suggestion of mechanical or technical failure".
stevespang 6y ago
If the authorities had any sense they would already have 4 massive draglines excavator on site. One on each starboard and port side, bow and stern both, able to throw their buckets up to maybe a 75 to 100 feet out and drag the sediment onto land. Nothing can do this job like a giant dragline excavator bucket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Muskie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Muskie
pyinstallwoes 6y ago
I read something where this is causing something like 18 million dollars of debt a minute. So roughly 750 billion a month? Let's round it to a trillion dollars a month with interest. Pow!
pyinstallwoes 6y ago
What kind of pictures are these? https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374924822199865349 https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374924822199865349
- rax0m 6y ago
  They are from vesselfinder [1]. [1]: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000
  - pyinstallwoes 6y ago
    What technique? It looks like a combination of xray and heat? I am curious what I'm looking at and want to understand the optics more.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - garaetjjte 6y ago
      They are radar images from synthetic aperture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2bUKEi9It4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2bUKEi9It4
jansan 6y ago
On news.com.au (https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/catastrophic-oil-prices-spike-after-grounded-mega-ship-blocks-suez-canal/news-story/19d9322de92f703442b3aecccf8a7ffd https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/catast...) they claim that the ship war previously driving in a pattern that looks like a giant... "DICK" "Yaa" "take a look out at starboard" "OH ma God, it looks like a huge..." "PECKER, wait, that's not a wood pecker, it looks like someone's..." "PRIVATES, we have reports of an Unidentified Flying Object, it is a long smooth shaft, complete with..." "TWO BALLS, what is that? That looks just like an enormous..." "WANG, pay attention" "I was distracted by that enormous flying..." "WILLIE, what's that?" "Well it looks like a giant..." "JOHNSON" "Yes Sir" "Get on the hold of the British intelligence and let them know about this"
conteperrone 6y ago
One solution could be to have the 380 ships tow the stranded ship

1055 points by tilolebo 6y ago

https://gcaptain.com/grounded-mega-ship-blocking-suez-canal-in-both-directions/ https://gcaptain.com/grounded-mega-ship-blocking-suez-canal-...

mperham 6y ago

Holy ship.

avaldeso 6y ago
Ship happens
- Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
  It was buoy to happen at some point. Edit: should of ended it with “schooner or later”
  - lproven 6y ago
    Should have...
    - Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
      I bet your real fun at parties… Just so you know you are like the 1000th person to tell me that, if it’s not sunk in yet, it’s never going to.
      - jamiek88 6y ago
        You’re
        Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
        Now that is a new one, because you’re is just a contraction which is not necessary in written English.
        sokoloff 6y ago
        They’re talking about > I bet your real fun at parties…
        Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
        See my brain is that bad at English I didn’t even see that one.
        tanbog2 6y ago
        Me fail English? Unpossible!
        Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
        The kid with learning difficulties struggling with English. It’s a shock I know. See it’s why the one/two word “correction” response comes off as such a dick move. It doesn’t actually help the other person. It either comes with zero meaning so offers no way to learn (if it’s actually meant as help which, I have my doubts that it actually is most of the time). Or it’s being said in a superior tone to someone who can not help it and has heard it soo many times it basically becomes an insult.
scpedicini 6y ago
Reddit is that way. That's where Dane Cook calibre word puns belong.

Sniffnoy 6y ago

Question: If the ship is called the "Ever Given", why does its side say "Evergreen" instead?

dwater 6y ago
Evergreen is a huge shipping company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine
buildbot 6y ago
It’s the shipping line, all their ships are named ever-something iirc https://www.evergreen-line.com/ https://www.evergreen-line.com/ Based out of Taiwan
tilolebo 6y ago
Maybe the company behind it? See similar vessels https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/EVER-GIVEN-IMO-9811000-MMSI-353136000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/EVER-GIVEN-IMO-9811000-...
sebirocs 6y ago
because the ship has no fucks "ever given" :P
noarchy 6y ago
It does say "Ever Given" near the front, albeit in much smaller size.
robocat 6y ago
Here’s a photo with the ship name “Ever Given” in smaller letters on the bow: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26560319 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26560319 The shipping company name “Evergreen” is in huge letters on the side of the ship.

shortlived 6y ago

Really interesting post! Thanks for sharing. How does something like this happen?

toomuchtodo 6y ago
Loss of propulsion at the wrong time.
- dgrin91 6y ago
  One post said that the ship was cutting off other ships, so possibly some reckless sailing as well.
  - jandrese 6y ago
    It's cutting off other ships because when it lost power it drifted sideways and blocked the canal. It's now stuck in both embankments and the only vessels getting past are very flat submarines.
    - pimlottc 6y ago
      GP is referencing a comment on Instagram [0] that states that it cut off another ship enter the channel /before/ it grounded: > @tjcsalisbury Yepp! And I believe they cut us off this morning entering the canal and then this happened and right after they ran aground the ship behind us lost power and almost hit us so it’s been a fun day lol but now we are just anchored here hopefully it won’t be to long but from the looks of it that ship is super stuck they had a bunch of tugs trying to pull and push it earlier but it was going nowhere there is a little excavator trying to dig out the bow 0: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMxEKHanW62/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CMxEKHanW62/
      - _ah 6y ago
        ...which is interesting. Two unrelated ships lost power at the same location on the same day? Curious.

bellyfullofbac 6y ago

I guess it won't be too hard to unjam it, but imagine how the world would change if it does get stuck, everyone would now have to go around Africa, probably boosting a few African economies. A bit like how a tiny bat (citation needed?) changed the course of the world for at least a year.

towergratis 6y ago
> a tiny bat (citation needed?) changed the course of the world for at least a year It wasn't a tiny bat, or a lab accident that changed the course of the world. It was a corrupt non democratic government trying to hide it under the carpet, in similar fashion that a similar government in USSR try to hide under the carpet the biggest nuclear accident in its time.
- lucian1900 6y ago
  Covid was detected in China and the world was alerted. Most other countries didn’t even react, though. That’s hardly on China. From the data we have so far, it was already present and undetected in Europe the year before. It may have originated in Europe, but that isn’t yet clear. Don’t fall to western chauvinism.
  - osacial 6y ago
    China reported to WHO, that it had EVERYTHING under control and that virus was not lethal to humans. China is west to the USA.
    - lucian1900 6y ago
      At the time it was not yet know that the virus is lethal, that’s all that was reported. Everything was also under control in China, as was later confirmed. Unfortunately by the time the virus was detected in China, it was already spread throughout Europe, since at least November 2019. I really didn’t expect this sort of rejection of science and facts on HN.

gumby 6y ago

Classic DOS attack. Cui bono?

detritus 6y ago
I don't think I'd ever considered prior to now how much more economic it would be to release "The one nuclear bomb [TerroristOrganisation] can afford to muster" in a shipping choke-point, rather than a city. So, another thing to worry about :)
- Ekaros 6y ago
  Dozen or so ships would be enough to blockade both Suez and Panama... That would cause substantial damage to global shipping industry... Not even that expensive. Hundred or two hundred million would do...
  - cycomanic 6y ago
    Panama is not that busy. A much better target would be the kiel canal (Nord- Ostsee Kanal in German), which is the busiest waterway in the world 25000 ships yearly vs 19000 ships for the Suez vs 12000 for Panama.
- jandrese 6y ago
  For the Suez Canal a huge bomb is just going to make it bigger and easier to navigate in one spot. Blow up the locks for the Panama Canal and you have some seriously inconvenienced shipping companies. But even in both cases the result is that they have to take the long way around. It makes the shipping slower and more expensive, but it was a tiny fraction of your costs to begin with so most companies survive just fine.
  - paranoidrobot 6y ago
    I suspect it's not the use of the bomb that is the biggest concern. I would think someone with a bomb on some kind of bulk Hazmat carrier and the threat of blowing it up would shut down traffic for a lot longer. Nobody is going to want to get close to do anything about it. LNG or Oil are the two I can think of, but there's probably a lot of other bulk Hazmat carriers.

mongol 6y ago

This worries me. What if it becomes stuck for real?

aerovistae 6y ago
Then they'll fix it. That's what engineers do. :)
- ls612 6y ago
  Disclaimer: Fixing it may involve high explosives and loss of property
  - k3liutZu 6y ago
    At some point that will become cheaper than delaying everything else.
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marshmallow_12 6y ago
Scrap

capableweb 6y ago

If you go to vesselfinder you can follow the drama in real-time! Seems it's still stuck: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000

fsagx 6y ago
Cool. It even shows the 7 tugs trying to help.
- tim333 6y ago
  I was looking up how hard can a tug tug. Wikipedia seems to imply 65 tons is normal.
zests 6y ago
This link is extremely interesting. Keep zooming out all the way if you haven't already.
- oliv__ 6y ago
  Wow. The magnitude of global trade is insane!
  - yrro 6y ago
    As is the environmental harm
    - arnaudsm 6y ago
      Super-ships emit ~5g_Co2/Ton/km on average[1], while railway is 2-35g, air transport is 700-3000g and truck transport is 100-2000g. Surprisingly, the bigger the boat the more effective. We tend to have a bias against larger machines, but often they can be the cleanest in proportion. [1] https://www.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/assets/documents/86275_7715-guide-information-co2-transporteurs.pdf#page=80 https://www.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/assets/documents/86...

jandrese 6y ago

According to the Twitter feed there is now a excavator trying to dig out the bow. It really shows off the scale as the excavator looks like a tiny toy next to the massive container ship. https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374468169784459267/photo/2 https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374468169784459267/pho...

danaos 6y ago
Uhhh it's in Wikipedia's "largest container ships" list! [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ship...
- noarchy 6y ago
  >Uhhh it's in Wikipedia's "largest container ships" list! Off-topic, but does anyone else find it odd to find fillers like "umm" and "uhh" to be typed out on sites like HN or reddit?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - stransky 6y ago
    Ummmm...no?
  - reducesuffering 6y ago
    No it contributes to more natural conversation, illustrating the commenter’s thought process.
    - noarchy 6y ago
      I didn’t think that “natural” conversation was an actual goal on HN. You see this particularly in the way that humour (among other things) is often downvoted and discouraged.

yosito 6y ago

Does anyone have some insight on how this could affect global supply chains, depending on how long the canal is blocked? It seems like it's been blocked for a day or so, and there's already a pretty big queue. I'd imagine that has to have some significant impacts already.

lmilcin 6y ago
I don't think this will impact. There is already a lot of possibility of delays, for example ships taking detours due to bad weather systems, etc. Nobody plans success of their production based on the ship arriving on exact day.
mattashii 6y ago
Global trade will probably only be significantly impacted if the canal stays blocked for more than 2 weeks, which is when it starts to become a reasonable option (time-wise) to go south instead and round the cape. A backlog of ships on both sides will start to be really significant after 4 days of blocking, with longer blockade implying ports increasingly further down the routes being impacted as well. Currently, the worst that probably is happening is that the local logistics sector (train, truck, etc.) is in re-booking hell to handle the suddenly delayed ships. src: I work at a container-logistics software company, and we've handled and seen similar situations (sudden loss of a main class of transport for a few days).
- hef19898 6y ago
  Yep. Operationally, things like that are interesting. Global as a whole usually recovers pretty well. Might drive container and shipping rates a tad more so. Truck and train will probably see an increase as well on the China-Europe route if it takes too long.
- sabas_ge 6y ago
  Add to the fact that we had equipment shortage for a while these months (hi from a shipping agency)...

carols10cents 6y ago

In a chapter of "Ninety Percent of Everything", the author rides a container ship through the Suez Canal and relates what it's like, if this has piqued your interest about the shipping industry. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16044961-ninety-percent-of-everything https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16044961-ninety-percent-...

dmux 6y ago
It definitely has. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll be checking it out!
u678u 6y ago
Aren't they just a dozen Filipinos or Russians keeping the boat clean while the auto pilot makes a slight adjustment every few hours? I'm not sure how exciting it would be.
- alisonatwork 6y ago
  I haven't read the book, but I have traveled on a container ship through the Suez Canal. It's not really what I would call exciting, but it is fairly interesting. It takes less than a day to transit, and the scenery is relatively varied - you get to see urban areas, some rural farmland, beaches, and full out desert. Both in front and behind are dozens of massive container ships, just as big as the one you're on. It's quite humbling. All this is in contrast to the rest of the time you are onboard. You are right that not very much happens. The ocean is very, very big. The vast majority of the time you can't see any land, or any other ships. If you don't have a satellite receiver of your own, there is no internet, no news, no nothing. Sometimes there is a storm. Sometimes there is a sunset. Most of the time there's nothing of note. I found it really relaxing, but it's definitely not for everyone. It's also a very expensive way to travel compared to commercial airlines or even long distance rail.
  - arduinomancer 6y ago
    How does one end up traveling on a container ship? Is that something you can pay to do?

nickkell 6y ago

Let's hope all those backed up ships aren't stuck as long as these chaps: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleet

ceejayoz 6y ago
> Cargo: Eggs, fruit Yikes.
- nickkell 6y ago
  From what I recall they wanted to sell apples to the Egyptians, but the government refused. The crew ended up throwing the cargo overboard before it could perish. I heard about this originally from a great German podcast "Geschichten aus der Geschichte": https://www.geschichte.fm/podcast/zs180/ https://www.geschichte.fm/podcast/zs180/
Invictus0 6y ago
I watched a great video about this a few days ago: https://youtu.be/4DiXRCo7eBs https://youtu.be/4DiXRCo7eBs

Nekhrimah 6y ago

Footage of the backlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhSzxe0FuIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhSzxe0FuIE Presumably in the Gulf of Suez.

u678u 6y ago
Its just incredible how big the world is and how much stuff is getting produced and consumed. These ships are huge.
biosed 6y ago
Video was removed.
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lmilcin 6y ago

Seeing how it is positioned, the worst case is that they will not be able to move it and they will have to remove some of the load. This might take a day or three depending on how difficult it is going to get a crane and a ship positioned to take the load off.

er4hn 6y ago

Any fans of What We Do in the Shadows here? Getting strong vibes from the second season when Colin Robinson parks his car across the entrance to the Lincoln tunnel.

sbhn 6y ago

Its time to create a canal through israel

walrus01 6y ago

a video from 4 months ago, what it normally looks like to transit the canal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdU2cYRbnM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdU2cYRbnM

jansan 6y ago
At the end of the video he says that he estimates the transit toll for his ship to be around 200,000$. Wow!
- alwayshumans 6y ago
  One interesting thing is the toll often fluctuates due to the oil price. If the toll is deemed to be too high a vessel always has the option of going around the Cape. Realistically it's always an option but the added time plus the additional wear on a vessel makes it undesirable.
- tasuki 6y ago
  Some back-of-the-napkin calculations: The ship's got over 20k containers, so less than $10 per container. Shipping a container from Asia to Europe costs thousands of dollars, so passing through the canal is less than 1% of the cost. Sounds fair to me?
  - jansan 6y ago
    The ship in the video is not a container ship but a taker or bulk cargo ship, so you cannot calculate this way. But I am sure it is not much if you divide the toll fee by total shipping cost or even the value of the cargo. It was just the total sum that I found impressive.
    - tasuki 6y ago
      Oh, good point - I mixed it up with Ever Given. Agreed $200k is a lot, but probably totally insignificant compared to the major costs (fuel, wear & tear). Maintaining the channel seems to be a lot of work... like when ships crash into the bank and block it.

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kjrose 6y ago

This is fascinating. I wonder if it really was solidly trapped if they would resort to essentially scuttling it just to get it out of the way faster.

herendin2 6y ago
The canal isn't very deep there. Scuttling it would make the situation much worse
- wang_li 6y ago
  It has like 50cm clearance. If it “sank” you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking.
  - tleb_ 6y ago
    Do you have a source? The boat's draught is 15.7m according to [0] and the Suez canal supports ships with a draft up to 20m and is 23m to 24m deep.[1] [0] https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal#Capacity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal#Capacity
    - wang_li 6y ago
      Am I misreading the AIS data there? I read that to mean that it's a 15.7m vessel in 16m water.
      - mikey_p 6y ago
        I believe that is stating that it draws a maximum of 16m, but is currently drawing 15.7m
- kjrose 6y ago
  My bad. I didn't mean scuttle and leave there. I meant take apart with welding torches. Not sure what the proper term is for that. However they got it moving so we are all good to go.

matthewaveryusa 6y ago

Ha, I happened to see it leave Boston August of last year and snapped a photo of it because it was jaw dropping big (and I’m not a boat person!) the Evergreen had 4 tugboats guiding it. Yeah that thing isn’t moving without professional help. https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Ywgot5wmK6HDNoV6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Ywgot5wmK6HDNoV6 Edit: so this is the “ever living” that’s 335 meters long. The ever given is 400 meters long

TimWolla 6y ago
That's another ship. The tweet is about "Ever Given", not "Evergreen". Edit: Comparing with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ships#/media/File:EVER_GIVEN_(49643352087)_(cropped).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ship... it might or might not have been the ship. Evergreen is the name of the company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine
- Kye 6y ago
  Evergreen is the company. Ever Given is the ship.
- benchtobedside 6y ago
  Same one - check out the pictures in the OP. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExL7VGtVoAYIBKo?format=jpg&name=medium https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExL7VGtVoAYIBKo?format=jpg&name=...
  - TimWolla 6y ago
    Looking at GP's foto again I believe the name of the ship they photographed ends with a 'G'. But I also realized my mistake with mixing up the ship's name with the company name.
- matthewaveryusa 6y ago
  There you have it, shows you how much I know about boats, although the more I’ve been reading this thread the more interested I am about learning more about the industry.

Kye 6y ago

Can anyone familiar with shipping offer an explanation for this track other than the funny, obvious, and probably wrong one? https://twitter.com/KyeFox/status/1374513117326024705 https://twitter.com/KyeFox/status/1374513117326024705

soneil 6y ago
Only familiar with much, much smaller boats - but that's not unusual for station-keeping (or anchoring, but I expect a moon-shaped track at anchor). To be super clear, I'm extrapolating from 30ft boats, I could be wildly wrong in any of this. In a nutshell you don't stay still, you drift around with wind and currents (and breeze-block shaped ships have a lot of windage!). So you drift off station, motor back, rinse repeat. ('Station' is usually a box you're bound to rather than a point you try to hit, for exactly this reason) Anchor isn't much different - a cargo ship in an anchorage isn't a static fixture, it's realistically the world's largest windsock. Compare another ship waiting in the same area - https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 Hit the "Track" button on the sidebar (under the photo of the ship), and you'll see a similar history. Theirs is tighter, but that could simply be a product of it getting crowded. I'd expect EG's arrival to be more planned, less chaotic - arrive, assemble the convoy, join the queue and go.
sabas_ge 6y ago
It's the GPS position transmitted via AIS, it's like your phone while you are in a static position but on a bigger scale...

aasasd 6y ago

Sorta makes me wonder why another ship, larger than a tugboat, couldn't hitch it with a tow rope (whatever the marine term) and give it a jerk. I get that ships aren't normally expected to do that, but you know, probably need larger tugboats for gigantic ships.

morei 6y ago
Amusingly enough, the tugs not uncommonly have more thrust. Large ships are _heavily_ optimized for the common case, which is sailing at about 13.5 knots. They take a very long time to get up to speed because their propulsion is sized to be just enough to overcome resistance at their typical cruising speed. Consequently, it would be difficult to get another ship up to any sort of speed in a short enough distance. Even if you could, the the momentum is absurdly high so it's much more likely that any sort of chain would snap, or the attachment point would break than that the aground ship would actually move. (The aground ship has a deadweight of approx 200,000 tonnes)
- emmelaich 6y ago
  Related - These Mini-Ships Teach Pilots How to Navigate Major Waterways https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDrFiQq1_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDrFiQq1_k Looks like fun actually!
- NamTaf 6y ago
  Expanding on your comment, it's analogous to torque vs speed in cars. You wouldn't use a Ferrari to tow just because it has a high top speed and lots of top-end power. You'd use something with high torque down low and good gearing. Similarly, tugs use different propeller setups (e.g. ducted props for extra power, or vectored systems such as azimuth thrusters or cyclorotors for extra manuverability), which just cause extra drag if all you're doing is cruising at a fixed speed throughout oceans. A big container ship trying to tow something is not unlike having a high-speed racecar spin its wheels. It's not designed to put that torque down at low speed and lift a big trailing mass.
justin66 6y ago
Based on the photos, the most useful vector a tug (of any strength) might take is not available. Yanking the ship backwards, off the bank, would work nicely but pulling its bow 35 degrees through the bank is pretty rough.

darness-2 6y ago

Shoul've expanded their canal, just like panama did recently

macintux 6y ago
They just did (2015?), that’s the only reason this one was able to fit through.
swilliamsio 6y ago
When the canals expand, the ships get bigger too.
astura 6y ago
They did! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal_Area_Development_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal_Area_Development_Pr...

oliv__ 6y ago

Tengential but I am always curious what software these huge logistics company use to manage their business. From my outsider's perspective, it seems like a best-in-class-software enabled company would have a massive advantage over the rest. Interested to hear if anyone has insights about this

bobby_bob 6y ago
There were some interesting profiles following the NotPetya attack on Maersk in 2017 where Maersk claimed to have 1,200 - 1,500 applications, 49,000 laptops, 6,200 servers. Maersk are entering into block-chain "distributed ledger technology" with IBM and similar modern solutions. But one article put $300 of every $2,000 of shipping costs for administration and paperwork[0]. I think you're right, there is a massive advantage to be had, and companies are chasing that advantage. But from my (tangential logistics) background, even the biggest shipping companies have the usual range of legacy systems, heavy administration overhead, plenty of paperwork, excel-based-tools and huge integration headaches. 0 - https://www.supplychaindigital.com/technology-4/maersk-and-ibm-are-bringing-blockchain-tech-shipping-industry https://www.supplychaindigital.com/technology-4/maersk-and-i...
- oliv__ 6y ago
  > 300 of every $2,000 of shipping costs for administration and paperwork Damn that's a lot. I understand this is a capital intensive industry so I guess it's hard/impossible to get in now but it seems like if someone started a competitor from scratch and had great software as the foundation of their company, they'd make a killing
  - bombcar 6y ago
    15% overhead is actually pretty low all things considering.
    - jacurtis 6y ago
      Yeah the cost for paperwork and administration in aviation is over 50%.

stevespang 6y ago

Time to break out the lift bags. 10,000 of them all roped together below water line, then inflate.

soheil 6y ago

How is it that something like this just happened now? The canal has been open for decades, is it that they probably loaded one extra container on a ship like this and that was the straw that broke the camel's back?

bombcar 6y ago
Ship lost power and began to drift and got wedged in. If necessary I guess they’ll have to unload it somehow.

walrus01 6y ago

I wonder how effective two giant ground based winches would be, pulling on the mooring attachment points, on diagonally opposite sides of the ship? If it remains stuck, perhaps they might need to bring in a suction dredger to work on the area around the bow?

jacquesm 6y ago
They would pull it down as well as sideways.

spiritplumber 6y ago

They’ll have to slowly rock her back and forth in the roll axis while they pull to get her aligned with the canal again. Use earthmovers.

system2 6y ago
Let's hope someone from the canal operations read your comment.

testfoobar 6y ago

Compare the red/black line on the ship's hull and the water line. Under normal conditions, the red/black line is parallel to the water across the length of the ship: https://www.google.com/search?q=evergreen+ever+given&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVg6uXmcjvAhUcIDQIHctmDLcQ_AUoA3oECAEQBQ&biw=1313&bih=749 https://www.google.com/search?q=evergreen+ever+given&source=... In this picture of the ship stuck in the Suez, the red/black line appears to tilt noticeably upwards towards the bow: https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1374480496789393412 https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1374480496789393412 If this isn't some sort of optical illusion, the bow of the ship appears runaground by quite a bit.

kerpele 6y ago
I’m not a ship engineer but I do know that ships are not built to be suspended from the ends. I guess in the worst case the hull breaks which would mean the canal to be blocked for quite a while.
- herendin2 6y ago
  That's usually only a real problem when the ship is suspended in the air, between wavetops. This one is still in the water, though maybe it has a little less support in the center than normal
- jjk166 6y ago
  Ships actually are designed to be suspended from the ends. Ocean going vessels are going to experience wave crests which can be any length apart, including the full length of the ship.
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mixmax 6y ago
All ships of this size have a number of large ballast tanks that they use to pump seawater in and out to compensate for placement of cargo. My guess would be that they've emptied the ballast tanks in the end that has run aground and filled them in the other end to rise the keel.

instakill 6y ago

Assuming the canal remains blocked for 10 - 14 days, what WSB moves would you make in the stock market given this scenario?

orthoxerox 6y ago
Any public companies with large Mi-26 fleets?

al3xandre 6y ago

Three questions: 1. How easy would it be to pay a container ship’s captain to do that ? 2. Can you then bet on short term commodity futures to benefits from the event significantly? 3. Do you think this is what’s happening ?

gonzo 6y ago
Normally the ship’s captain isn’t in-charge in the canal. The Suez Port Authority has pilots you have to hire for that.
- glitchcrab 6y ago
  Correct; I believe the canal's authority has liability here as they provide the mandatory pilot for the duration of the transit.
  - jandrese 6y ago
    The captain may still be liable if the ship ended up like that due to mechanical failure.
  - pmyteh 6y ago
    Certainly in cases of collision the owners of the vessel retain liability even with a Suez Canal pilot on board[0]. It's possible that they then have a claim against the canal company for provision of negligent piloting, but I don't know that. [0]: https://www.reedsmith.com/en/perspectives/2020/10/when-common-sense-prevails-liability-finding-in-ship-collision-suez-canal https://www.reedsmith.com/en/perspectives/2020/10/when-commo... - and the (linked) full judgment is also interesting; the pilot of the ship that caused the collision wasn't doing a good job on that occasion!
- raptorraver 6y ago
  I've understood that (in Finland at least) the pilot's aren't actually steering the ship but giving instructions for the captain.
willyt 6y ago

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p1mrx 6y ago

Ever given run aground and divert you.

jacquesm 6y ago

This is going to take a while. And it puts the other boats in the canal in a pickle as well, they can't exactly back out (easily, or even at all).

person_of_color 6y ago

This system seems messed up and is ready for disruption. Lets replace gigantic container ships with a worldwide flock of drones following the sun 24/7.

_Microft 6y ago

Here is another accident of the "Ever Given" in Hamburg [0] in which a harbour ferry suffered a total loss after being rammed by her. Supposed cause was an unfortunate combination of slow speeds and severe wind which seems to be a difficult situation for ships as tall as these. Maybe a similar combination of events happened here? [0] https://www.mopo.de/hamburg/frachter-rammt-faehre-knapp-an-der-katastrophe-vorbei-32016794 https://www.mopo.de/hamburg/frachter-rammt-faehre-knapp-an-d...

chki 6y ago
Wow, the same ship with a very unusual accident just 14 Months ago. A very bad look and hints to a deeper systemic issue that was not fixed.
- brazzy 6y ago
  The cause for that accident seems to have been strong wind, which apparently makes these huge ships very hard or even impossible to maneuver when they are going slow. If true, then the "systemic issue" is only that ships are getting too big.
  - lmilcin 6y ago
    Hi. Skipper here (nothing of the size of the ship in question, obviously:). Ships of ANY size are hard or impossible to maneuver when they are going slow and have a blackout. The size doesn't matter. The control surfaces only work when they move with regards to water. The ship that does not move is uncontrollable with rudder and it needs to use something else to help it maneuver. This something else can be a tugboat that rotates the ship by the force it can generate, or it can be thrusters. Thrusters aren't propulsion method and they are relatively small and can counter only so much wind.
    - speexmex 6y ago
      Isn't this why new ships are starting to have multiple 360 degree electrical drivers instead of one big propeller? I think they are called iso-pods.

brnt 6y ago

Taiwanese company blocks much of Chinas trade with Europe at a moment where there has been sabbre rattling. Wonderful coincidence!

devpbrilius 6y ago

Amazing, it's Panama channel China resident.

ragebol 6y ago

How does a huge ship like that get stuck in that orientation wrt. the canal? These things don't really turn on a dime I presume. Edit: Go to https://www.myshiptracking.com/ https://www.myshiptracking.com/ and use the Playback button with timestamp 23/03/2021 06:15:00 to see the ship drifting left and right.

donalhunt 6y ago
From one of the twitter threads on the topic: "power blackout". So likely the ship was uncontrollable and drifted into the bank. There seems to be evidence that there its bulbous bow is embedded in the bank.
- ragebol 6y ago
  Aha, that explains. The sheer inertia of a ship like this, almost unimaginable. That'll jam that bow in there good.
- akg_67 6y ago
  As I shared in another comment according to NHK News in Japan, poor visibility due to sand storm was the cause. It is a Japanese ship operated by Taiwanese company.
- myself248 6y ago
  Can you find that tweet again? I'm scouring every link I can find and I seem to have lost it. In particular, there was one where someone said another ship behind them _also_ lost power/control around the same time and almost rear-ended them. I would really love to find that tweet again.
mzs 6y ago
Thanks for describing how the playback feature works, there's another vessel two back that ran into trouble as well: https://gfycat.com/JointFirmGrayling https://gfycat.com/JointFirmGrayling

konjin 6y ago

https://twitter.com/MarineTraffic/status/1374650543344390147?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet https://twitter.com/MarineTraffic/status/1374650543344390147... It's pretty insane that I can track what ship is where on the other side of the planet in real time.

dylan604 6y ago
too bad airplane don't have the same ability, otherwise, we'd know where MH370 went
- konjin 6y ago
  They do: https://www.flightradar24.com/ https://www.flightradar24.com/ They even found debris from it in the places they expected: https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/searching-for-mh370-two-years-later/ https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/searching-for-mh370-two-y...
- pjerem 6y ago
  Not sure if you are trolling or not but ... https://www.flightradar24.com/ https://www.flightradar24.com/
- mattashii 6y ago
  > too bad airplane don't have the same ability Airplanes have ADS-B, which is quite similar to the maritime AIS location broadcasting. The only significant difference is that satellite AIS coverage is high and ships don't go fast, so having no signal for a few hours is not as big a problem for ships. ADS-B satellite coverage is currently provided by (at least) the iridium constellation, but that only came into effect in 2016.

roschdal 6y ago

What does this blockage of the canal mean for investments in oil cargo ships? Will the rates for oil cargo ships increase because they will sail around Africa instead?

Ichthypresbyter 6y ago

The BBC article [0] is saying that apparently an older parallel channel has been reopened. Does anyone know where this might be? I can't find a parallel channel that would bypass this blockage... [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56505413 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56505413

lifthrasiir 6y ago
Indeed, the ship is stranded between the Small Bitter Lake and the Suez Port so there seems to be no bypass available. (The New Suez Canal doesn't cover this particular range.)

austinjp 6y ago

Genuine question: why "EVER GIVEN" when "EVERGREEN" is written on the side of the ship? Someone with insider knowledge: is this a typo or similar error? How does it happen and proliferate without being corrected?

cotillion 6y ago
Evergreen is the shipping line which owns the ship. I guess they name their ships Ever <something>.
mkl 6y ago
From the Twitter thread: "For the confused: MV EVER GIVEN's operator is Evergreen Marine (https://evergreen-line.com https://evergreen-line.com) and Ever___ is a naming convention for some vessels."
skore 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given vs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Marine
manigandham 6y ago
"Evergreen" is the name of the shipping company. "Ever Given" is the name of the ship and written in smaller font on the bow and (always) on the stern.
anu7df 6y ago
I think Evergreen is the shipping company. The name of the ship could be Ever Given.
wscott 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ship... scroll down to #13 and read the names of the sister ships. The evergreen shipping line has 7 identical ships named "Ever XXX"
eloisius 6y ago

tcpekin 6y ago

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1374438210315513864.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1374438210315513864.html

brisky 6y ago

I think this could possibly be the black swan event.

dmos62 6y ago
It would be ironic if this spiralled into a global crisis, that spiraled into something else, until, finally, we're all cave people again. I think conspiracy theorists are having a field day.
speexmex 6y ago
Experts said this will be solved in at most 3 days.
- gabagoo 6y ago
  experts have said a lot of things this year...

m3kw9 6y ago

Damn, imagine having to go around South America as a detour.

Swenrekcah 6y ago
Unless I’m very much mistaken, the Suez is in Egypt, so the detour would be around Africa.
- vbezhenar 6y ago
  Considering the threat from Nigeria pirates, they probably will just wait until everything resolves.
  - cycomanic 6y ago
    ? This is the first time I hear about Nigerian pirates. The problem several years ago were Somalian pirates, which incidentally are next to the Suez route.
    - vbezhenar 6y ago
      https://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map https://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-...
- saalweachter 6y ago
  I mean, technically you could detour around South America it just probably isn't recommended. I wonder if, if you're a container ship leaving China today, headed for Europe, if it makes sense to head for Panama instead, purely on the metric of time, or if you're still better off either rounding Africa or just waiting for the Suez to clear. (I assume from a fuel/logistics point it is cheapest just to wait.)
devdas 6y ago
Around the horn of Africa. The Suez canal is in Egypt, Africa. The Panama canal in in Panama, central America. You are thinking of the wrong channel.

darkwater 6y ago

So, fellow Europeans, prepare for a longer delivery time for most of your items starting from, I don't know, 10 days from now? What's the buffer size for most of the products in, say, an Amazon Fulfillment facility?

fifilura 6y ago
Also, I expect this kind of stop will cause the ships to be lining up in the unloading facilities in e.g. Rotterdam, so there will be secondary obstructions beyond the time the canal is blocked.
pharke 6y ago
Be prepared for an oil shock as well.
AniseAbyss 6y ago
Well isn't it nice of the Chinese to invest in rail!

tilolebo 6y ago

https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374674714854105093?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374674714854105093?... The Twitter account of this transit services agency provides some updates. I already saw multiple French news sites stating that the canal has been unblocked, but apparently that's not true. I wonder where that news came from.

tilolebo 6y ago
https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374634054096723970?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374634054096723970?... 2 dredges and a larger tug underway to help unblocking the Ever Given.
- tilolebo 6y ago
  1st dredger "10th of Ramadan" has arrived, 2nd dredger "Mashhour" should be on the scene very soon too. The tide is at its highest level of the day. Expecting some action in the next hour!

tilolebo 6y ago

Tide should apparently play a major role in unblocking the vessel, according to https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374708535603433472?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374708535603433472?... Live local tide: https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Suez-Egypt/tides/latest https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Suez-Egypt/tides/lat...

fullstop 6y ago
I am hopeful, but for some unfounded reason I'm giving it equal chances of suffering from structural failure when that happens and dumping shipping containers into the canal. I was able to find news reports of the canal being dredged in 2015 but nothing since then. edit: I see that they've already had one high tide opportunity which did not dislodge the vessel. From your tide chart link, I can see that the tides get progressively deeper until the end of the month, but that is a long time to be stuck there.

andrewla 6y ago

Partially refloated! [1] Apparently they're going to move it aside so traffic can start to get through. [1] https://twitter.com/GlobalHogg/status/1374709733614100487 https://twitter.com/GlobalHogg/status/1374709733614100487

bombcar 6y ago
The original link says that this is apparently a misinformed rumor.
joncrane 6y ago
Nope, still stuck as of this post. It's easy to check: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000

DyslexicAtheist 6y ago

relevant: > If this AIS track is genuine, the captain of Ever Given has written one hell of a resignation letter... https://twitter.com/TheDreadShips/status/1374654080082120704 https://twitter.com/TheDreadShips/status/1374654080082120704 I'll kindly ask everyone to refrain from cracking "yo-mamma" jokes. thanks :)

posterboy 6y ago
Do the ships have remote control options?
- DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
  they often do at least the smaller vessels[1]. should be able to find interesting exposed endpoints on shodan. Pentest-Partners did a post[2] on interfering with load management software in container ships. [1] https://www.livewire-connections.com/sites/default/files/files/documents/SAILOR900IM-98-133400-F-var-A-screen.pdf https://www.livewire-connections.com/sites/default/files/fil... [2] https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/sinking-container-ships-by-hacking-load-plan-software/ https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/sinking-contai...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

ohples 6y ago

One thing I learned from reading about this is that Rotterdam is the destination of a large amount of China to Europe trade. Is there really not a suitably developed Mediterranean port closer to Suez? Is there work on one?

jaggirs 6y ago
I think the issue here is how well connected such a port would be. From Rotterdam you can go all the way to Germany through a river. Not sure you could do the same from a port in the Mediterranean, as the terrain tends to be mountainous there.
- margalabargala 6y ago
  The Danube river flows into the Black Sea from Germany, though I have no idea if it's navigable for ships of the same size as would go to Rotterdam. Nothing from the Mediterranean.
- posterboy 6y ago
  The issue is that north north west europe is densely populated, and well developed, metropolitan as you say, highly urbanized and comparably wealthy. Add to that, the Dutch have been a maritime nation at least since colonial times. While one of the biggest ports lies at the footsteps of Athens, the economic power of neighbourg countries is not quite as strong.
awhitby 6y ago
There's no reason to do this. Shipping cost is disproportionately affected by loading/unloading, and every other type of transport is more expensive (per mile travelled). So what you actually want to do is take the ship as close as possible to the goods' final destination, and minimize trucking and rail and so on. I'm not sure exactly where the "economic center" of Europe is but maps of gridded GDP [0] or nightlights [1] suggests Rotterdam is a pretty good choice. (Also don't forget the Alps.) [0] https://bit.ly/31h1hsK https://bit.ly/31h1hsK [1] https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2012/03/Night_lights_in_Europe https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2012/03/Night_ligh...

fumblebee 6y ago

This incident has already been added to opening section for the Suez Canal Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal I wonder what makes something significant enough to be added to this section. A quick scan of the page shows some interesting tidbits that aren't present in the opening (to me, more noteworthy - so far - than the ongoing blockage): > The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on world trade. Combined with the American transcontinental railroad completed six months earlier, it allowed the world to be circled in record time. > In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the canal was the scene of a major crossing by the Egyptian army into Israeli-occupied Sinai and a counter-crossing by the Israeli army to Egypt. Much wreckage from this conflict remains visible along the canal's edges.

frederikvs 6y ago
Once the event is over, I suspect people will review the page and decide that this has no place in the opening section. Then it'll move down to its rightful place. Right now it's more a matter of racing to be as up-to-date as possible, rather than actually weighing the merits of having this in the opening section.
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
This is a big ship. There's no nearby facility to unload or service it. Its not something you bring tools in your pickup truck to solve the problem. If its not immediately resolvable with the ships own facilities, then its not clear it can be solved in less than a-long-time. Maybe years? Its 200 million pounds. It holds 20,000 units. To unload it would take building a facility on-site. And maybe a rail line to carry the cargo away. I have hopes the tug solution will solve it. But if not, then there's probably no easy solution at all. Not one that costs less than a billion dollars?
- piokoch 6y ago
  I think it can be done faster, there are people specialized in such tasks: https://www.smit.com/#view/map https://www.smit.com/#view/map but yes, you are right, this is not going to be 2h fix.

pazimzadeh 6y ago

Is this gonna cause the next recession or what

_nickwhite 6y ago

Update: According to Reuters, the ship has been partially refloated & moved so other traffic can go past. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-suezcanal-ship-restart-idUSKBN2BG1M4 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-suezcanal-ship-rest...

joncrane 6y ago
Nope, still stuck as of this post. It's easy to check: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000

PeterStuer 6y ago

From photos the boat has a giant "Evergreen" lettering on its side. Like the other disaster. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/24/middleeast/suez-canal-container-ship-intl-hnk/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/24/middleeast/suez-canal-con...

mzs 6y ago

50cm sat image: https://twitter.com/capellaspace/status/1374758445304397825 https://twitter.com/capellaspace/status/1374758445304397825

tilolebo 6y ago

https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374836312860151808?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374836312860151808?... As of 2330 (GMT+2) M/V EVER GIVEN, no. 5 in the 23rd of March NB convoy remains #grounded in the #SuezCanal. Vessel no. 6, 7 & 8 will be assisted by tugs back to Suez anchorage area, clearing space for M/V EVER GIVEN to be towed out the same way as she entered once re-floated. https://t.co/ltXEyRZtqX https://t.co/ltXEyRZtqX Looks like it's going to take a while...

tilolebo 6y ago
Re-floating operation has been temporarily suspended and will resume Thursday morning.
- MuffinFlavored 6y ago
  Can anybody speak as to why they are able to get the ship no longer stuck horizontal, but still need to drag it out the way it came? Why can't it just go forward on the path it was headed on?
  - bootloop 6y ago
    Because it ran its front into ground, it's not just grounded. See front picture: https://mobile.twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374725707738267648/photo/2 https://mobile.twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374725707738267...
tilolebo 6y ago
https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374864596192927746?s=19 https://twitter.com/AgenciesLeth/status/1374864596192927746?... "The #grounding of M/V EVER GIVEN in the #SuezCanal has caused transit delays. Current traffic situation is as follows: 71 vessels at Suez Anchorage awaiting NB transit 79 vessels awaiting SB transit of which 34 are anchored at Great Bitter Lake & 45 at Port Said Outer Anchorage" 150 vessels blocked

morei 6y ago

Best summary to date: https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1136229/Suez-Canal-remains-blocked-despite-efforts-to-refloat-grounded-Ever-Given https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL113622... TL;DR: Ship has not been refloated, "an initial investigation has ruled out any suggestion of mechanical or technical failure".

stevespang 6y ago

If the authorities had any sense they would already have 4 massive draglines excavator on site. One on each starboard and port side, bow and stern both, able to throw their buckets up to maybe a 75 to 100 feet out and drag the sediment onto land. Nothing can do this job like a giant dragline excavator bucket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Muskie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Muskie

pyinstallwoes 6y ago

I read something where this is causing something like 18 million dollars of debt a minute. So roughly 750 billion a month? Let's round it to a trillion dollars a month with interest. Pow!

pyinstallwoes 6y ago

What kind of pictures are these? https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374924822199865349 https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374924822199865349

rax0m 6y ago
They are from vesselfinder [1]. [1]: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000
- pyinstallwoes 6y ago
  What technique? It looks like a combination of xray and heat? I am curious what I'm looking at and want to understand the optics more.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - garaetjjte 6y ago
    They are radar images from synthetic aperture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2bUKEi9It4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2bUKEi9It4

jansan 6y ago

On news.com.au (https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/catastrophic-oil-prices-spike-after-grounded-mega-ship-blocks-suez-canal/news-story/19d9322de92f703442b3aecccf8a7ffd https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/catast...) they claim that the ship war previously driving in a pattern that looks like a giant... "DICK" "Yaa" "take a look out at starboard" "OH ma God, it looks like a huge..." "PECKER, wait, that's not a wood pecker, it looks like someone's..." "PRIVATES, we have reports of an Unidentified Flying Object, it is a long smooth shaft, complete with..." "TWO BALLS, what is that? That looks just like an enormous..." "WANG, pay attention" "I was distracted by that enormous flying..." "WILLIE, what's that?" "Well it looks like a giant..." "JOHNSON" "Yes Sir" "Get on the hold of the British intelligence and let them know about this"

conteperrone 6y ago

One solution could be to have the 380 ships tow the stranded ship