# Breaking News: Suez Canal blocked by a mega-sized container vessel \[Cleared\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 23, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516 "2021-03-23T21:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/323 "2021-03-28T18:33:55Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Would be like getting your 4x4 stuck in a swamp and tying a line on a sparrow to help pull you out. African or European? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/324 "2021-03-28T18:33:57Z")
Look at the bright side: at least there’s no significant current and no bridge involved: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OCySNPnACWw/hqdefault.jpg "Big Ship And Boat Crashes Into Bridge Compilation") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCySNPnACWw) ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/325 "2021-03-28T19:00:49Z")
Well, I recognize the very first bridge at the beginning of that video, the medieval stone bridge at Potter Heigham in Norfolk. Notorious for having hired boats stuck under it, despite all warnings. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/326 "2021-03-28T19:55:07Z")
Somebody upthread asked if there was enough food for the crew. On today’s menu: hot dogs. [![](https://preview.redd.it/0x2gzovycpd41.jpg?auto=webp&s=83a1001bc88595dacf87d869f76a9706a81af71c) ](https://preview.redd.it/0x2gzovycpd41.jpg?auto=webp&s=83a1001bc88595dacf87d869f76a9706a81af71c) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/327 "2021-03-28T20:05:21Z")
Great one! 😉 Hey Cap’n Quint! We’re gonna need a wider bun. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/328 "2021-03-28T20:37:26Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Started to look like a car on an icy road there at the end And as in incidents like that on roads, there may have been a component of excessive or mistimed corrections at play. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/329 "2021-03-28T21:18:02Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > There’s a couple issues with removing the cago to lighten the ship. > > 1. The containers at the top are the lightest. They put the heavy ones on the bottom for stability. > 2. They need to remove containers from the middle as well as the fore and aft. Just removing the fore and aft ones could destabilize the ship, maybe cause it to roll over. > > These mean they’ll need a crane that can reach a long ways out and they’ll have to remove more containers than you’d think would be necessary. Could they mount cranes on the ship itself to move heavy containers out to the bow and stern where other cranes could then remove them from the ship? Sort of like a relay race hand off. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/330 "2021-03-28T21:40:04Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Somebody upthread asked if there was enough food for the crew. On today’s menu: hot dogs. Funny you should post that picture. This looks too absurd to be true, but it’s being reported as staright news on HuffPo: > **[Cargo Ship Charted X-Rated Route Before Getting Stuck In Suez Canal](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/suez-canal-blocked-gps-xrated_n_605c2e44c5b67ad3871c9afe)** > > "Blocking the Suez Canal being a literal dick move," one person joked about the MV Ever Given's predicament. The track looks an awful lot like the picture you posted ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/331 "2021-03-28T22:17:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Could they mount cranes on the ship itself I wouldn’t think so, they have to attach it to the containers, there’s no deck to speak of. Most likely course is floating cranes, barge mounted. Problem there is they’re going to be slow. Purpose built container cranes can move about 30 containers an hour, one every 2 minutes. A utility crane isn’t going to have the container specific hardware, so every box will need to be manually strung up, with men on top of the containers attaching cables one by one. If you figure a very fast 6 minute turnaround to manually wire up, move, land and unhook a container, that’s 10 boxes an hour. To move 25% of this cargo means 4,500 containers moved, 450 hours with one crane, 225 hours with 2 cranes, and over 100 hours with 4 cranes, if you can even get 4 utility cranes safely working at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/332 "2021-03-28T22:44:12Z")
The latest info I have is that they are setting hopes on high tide Monday to help refloat the ship which has been somewhat lightened by the removal of ballast water. Monday’s tide is expected to be 18 inches, the highest tide of this moon cycle. (From the New York Times.) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/333 "2021-03-29T00:37:17Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Same problem, different scale! > > [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Exa\_uH0XEAEZfrT.jpg](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Exa_uH0XEAEZfrT.jpg) > > I doubt that this Dutch couple will be calling in SMIT to free their houseboat, though! 😄 Not a surprise. A friend and I would occasionally spend summer vacation cruising the **[Trent-Severn Waterway](http://thetrentsevernwaterway.com/)**, essentially a 387 km (240 mile) canal, interspersed with lakes, connecting Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Houseboats were the plague of the waterway in certain specific areas, in part because they all seemed to be driven by incompetents, all the more so because many of them were rentals – basically giant battered tin bathtubs driven by morons with very little experience in either boating or navigation. Our #1 priority was always to keep as much distance as possible from these idiots. Going through a lock with one of these beside you or behind you was always a terror. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/334 "2021-03-29T02:56:35Z")
Next time try Lake Powell in the US southwest: > **[Lake Powell Vacations - Houseboating Resorts Marinas - Glen Canyon Recreation...](https://www.lakepowell.com/)** > > Lake Powell vacations are fun for the whole family. Explore the waterways in a houseboat rental or enjoy fishing & camping, watercraft rentals & sports of all kinds. Wife and I spent 10 days on a houseboat there a few years ago. We went in late March which was the shoulder season after the air had warmed up but before it got hot. In those 10 days afloat we saw 2 other boats for a total of about 30 minutes. We simply checked off the planet for the rest of the time. Us, the stars, and plenty of food and room on a houseboat built for 8 people. It was great. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/335 "2021-03-29T03:10:59Z")
No offense intended against houseboats as a concept, which actually can be a great form of roomy recreational boating. And given your background, I’m sure that you were one of the most competent boat pilots out there. But I’m just reporting what I’ve personally experienced (including a few near-misses with incompetent houseboaters) which, put another way, is “the average IQ is 100, ergo, at least half the population consists of idiots unfit to pilot watercraft of any kind”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/336 "2021-03-29T03:15:01Z")
(post deleted) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/337 "2021-03-29T03:15:21Z")
Time for everyone to go the long way around Africa. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/338 "2021-03-29T03:15:34Z")
@wolfpup: Agree about boatniks. We have plenty here in SoFL too. At least here and now you can usually recognize them by the giant Trump flags and give them a wide berth. The value to Lake Powell is that for all practical purposes it’s deserted. Unlike your experience on the waterway. So on the lake you’re safe from boatniks. Not because they’re competent, but because there simply aren’t any within 10 miles of you. The Trent-Severn sounds wonderful. Something I _will_ make time to experience. Thank you! Boatniks and all. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/339 "2021-03-29T03:18:16Z")
My wife has been bingeing videos about narrowboats – English houseboats, built to fit in the canals and locks that run throughout England, and which are similar in size to the houseboat that’s stuck in the canal in the picture in post 320. Based on the videos I’ve seen her watching, there are a fair number of incompetent houseboat operators in England, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/340 "2021-03-29T04:08:18Z")
Interrupting this thread about houseboats… 😉 [It’s being reported that the Ever Given is unstuck.](https://twitter.com/MatthewBevan/status/1376383825350074368?s=20) > So, waiting for high tide and digging appears to have been the right course. Using the Power of the Moon for Good! ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/341 "2021-03-29T04:20:51Z")
This link says “The MV Ever Given was successfully re-floated at 04:30 lt 29/03/2021. She is being secured at the moment. More information about next steps will follow once they are known.” So what does “being secured” mean? They’ll secure the ship at the side of the canal and check it out and let other ships go by? > **[Cargo ship blocking the Suez is partially floated, says Suez Canal Authority](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/29/cargo-ship-blocking-suez-canal-has-been-refloated-says-inchcape.html)** > > Ever Given's course has been corrected by 80% and further maneuvers will resume when water level rises later in the day, the Suez Canal Authority said. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/342 "2021-03-29T04:29:10Z")
I’ve looked through news reports and found a couple reports that it’s been “partially refloated”. Not exactly sure what they mean by that. > [@gkster](#): > > They’ll secure the ship at the side of the canal and check it out and let other ships go by? I don’t think there’s enough room in that section of the canal for two large ships to pass each other. They widened the canal a few years ago, but not the whole thing. This is one of the one-way sections. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516.md?page=18)