For an assumption to get a gauge of forces involved: Large cargo ship mass is 190,000 tons @ 8 knots (14.8 kph) - I end up with a Force of about 1.609 * 10^9 or

For an assumption to get a gauge of forces involved: Large cargo ship mass is 190,000 tons @ 8 knots (14.8 kph) - I end up with a Force of about 1.609 * 10^9 or 1.6 GN of force of impact assuming it stopped over a very short distance (1 M). Force comparables (thanks GPT) for scale: Saturn V rocket thrust is about 34 GN on take off. Earthquakes: early stage of the earthquake might have about 1 GN of force in build up. Great pyramid of Giza is estimated at 50 GN of weight - so 1.6 GN could support a fraction of the weight. Engineering machinery - some of the largest human machines such as mining or lifting can exert forces only in the MN so would need a 1000 machines to get up to a GN.