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There appears to be little "high-end engineering." Just a high tide and a bunch of tug boats.
by leoh 6y ago
There appears to be little "high-end engineering." Just a high tide and a bunch of tug boats.
- hderms 6y agoA high tide and some tug boats becomes 'high-end engineering' if it works
- zelos 6y agoI'd guess figuring out where you can safely attach the tug boats, monitoring stability and stresses on the container ship and so on is non-trivial, too.
- hinkley 6y agoIf you fuck up bad enough those containers end up landing on the tugs, killing the crews. Not to mention increasing the quantity of stuff blocking the canal.
- hinkley 6y agoHave you looked at tug boat propulsion units lately? Those things look like black magic.
- thisisbrians 6y agoYou are right, these things are nuts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voith_Schneider_Propeller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voith_Schneider_Propeller
- _ah 6y agoWow this is the coolest thing I've learned this week.
- PragmaticPulp 6y agoHigh end engineering uses the simplest and most cost effective solution to get the job done right. It would have been a mistake to throw expensive, complicated solutions at a problem that had a relatively simple solution.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Aperocky 6y agosimple is better than complex!
- afterburner 6y agoSo just "engineering" then
- mwgarcia 6y agoYou forgot dredging tons of material. And dredgers have some of the more complex naval engineering out there with all its moving parts.
- arethuza 6y agoPretty sure I've seen a definition of engineering that was "Solve the problem by doing as little new as possible".
- temp0826 6y agoSometimes the safest way to deal with the so-called legacy systems we all know and love
- saalweachter 6y agoOr "by doing as little as possible". It's easy for me to throw together a small house, shed or bridge, but chances are whatever I build -- if it doesn't immediately collapse -- is horribly overbuilt for its purpose, because I don't know how to calculate and analyze the various stresses and material capacities well enough to size everything to a proper margin. So when I build a bridge I use lumber that is bigger than I think I need and use more of it than I think I need until it feels quite solid, but if I were a proper engineer I could figure out the exact right amount to use.
- Hextinium 6y agoAn engineer designs right to failure, and then multiplies the numbers required till he feels safe.
- chrisseaton 6y agoWow. People here still criticising the solutions the engineers on the scene used?
- hinkley 6y agor/iamverysmart here we come.
- F_J_H 6y agoAll jobs are easy to the person who doesn't have to do them. ~Hold's Law ;-)
- thisisbrians 6y agoThey built a computer model to try and manage the stress on the ship as they worked to free it. It was not straightforward as the ship could have broken if they weren't extremely careful. They also had divers inspecting the hull for signs of stress. This was a massive, complex operation.
- jacobreg 6y agoThat sounds terrifying for the divers
- Genghis_Dong 6y agoBoskalis Peter Berdowski said it wans't a very hard job technically on Dutch television. Just the scale and impact were huge.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 6y agoIt's like the guy at a bar who tells you he knows how to swordfight after doing fencing. I'm sure he's right but it just funny from an official with experience basically saying "it wasn't that hard."
- berkes 6y agoBoskalis is the company who brought the tugboats, engineers, diggers and whatnot over there in days. This is not a random guy commenting. This is an end-boss in charge of the entire operation.
- rswail 6y agoThey brought over a few tugs, but the large majority were Egyptian. Not belittling Boskalis' work in the operation, but don't think that the Egyptians don't understand maritime operations in the canal. And I'm guessing that the operation was overseen by the Suez Canal administration, not Boskalis. Not saying that there wasn't delegation, but I'm guessing a joint management operation between the canal, the ship's management, the salvage operator and the local ship captains.
- sjaak 6y agoThis reminds me of a former boss who told me to "just add some if statements, how long can it take?"
- baq 6y agoanyone can build a bridge that stands. only an engineer can build a bridge that barely stands.