# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/21 "2021-03-23T23:45:26Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As I understand it, the Suez Canal is just a ditch from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. There aren’t any locks to change levels and control the water flow, or which could be damaged by sabotage. While blowing up a ship in the canal would not be trivial, the fix might be as simple as removing the debris and dredging to the required depth. Yeah, there’s no need to blow anything up. IANA explosives expert (or a canal expert), but I expect that getting an intact ship stuck in it blocks the canal more thoroughly than blowing one up would—a sufficiently big bomb (like if you nuked it or something) might just, uh, widen and deepen the canal for a short stretch. Actually sabotaging the canal would probably better be accomplished by deliberately sinking a ship in the middle of it. In fact, in the wake of the Six Day War of 1967, [the canal _was_ blocked for about eight years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleet), which was done partly by planting mines, but mostly by sinking a bunch of ships in it. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/22 "2021-03-23T23:48:45Z")
Yes, there’s a bit of a backup. > ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/23 "2021-03-24T00:09:56Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > B)How many ships are normally waiting to get through. Granted it’s only been a few hours and those things don’t exactly move all that fast, but there’s a whole lot of them sitting on either side. But maybe that’s normal. There were 5 in front and 15 lined up behind it when the power went off. They all go at once, and I think that’s the total traffic for the day, with presumably another 20-30 daily in the convoy going the other direction at some other time. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/24 "2021-03-24T00:21:20Z")
Power on the ship went out, then it ran aground. So they have two problems: they need to get the power systems working again, and they need to get it ungrounded. > **[Grounded 'Mega Ship' Blocking Suez Canal in Both Directions](https://gcaptain.com/grounded-mega-ship-blocking-suez-canal-in-both-directions/)** > > Latest: Ever Given Grounding in Suez An ultra-large containership is aground and blocking ship traffic in the Suez Canal. AIS data shows the MV Ever Given is stuck sideways towards... ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/25 "2021-03-24T01:25:22Z")
See, I just wanted to Like this and move on. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/26 "2021-03-24T03:04:17Z")
I’m rooting for that excavator at the bow, but I think that massive high pressure water pumps would be more effective. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/27 "2021-03-24T03:41:27Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Power on the ship went out, then it ran aground. Shit. I was hoping the reason was the Captain letting a kid steer on taking your kid to work day. ---
**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 24, 2021, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/28 "2021-03-24T03:50:46Z")
For whatever it may be tangentially relevant, I’d read that one tactic China or other adversaries may use in combat would be to sabotage the Panama Canal to hinder U.S. warships from transiting from the Atlantic to the Pacific in short order (although the U.S. Pacific fleet may be sufficient on its own.) Wonder what militaries would benefit from the Suez being obstructed? (not saying this Evergreen vessel is deliberate, just hypotheticaling.) ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/29 "2021-03-24T03:58:40Z")
HOW??? > [@Morgyn](#): > > Someone talk me down from the paranoia? Sorry, can’t help you there, I had a very similar thought. ---
**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 24, 2021, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/30 "2021-03-24T04:06:07Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Wonder what militaries would benefit from the Suez being obstructed? It’s entirely in Egypt, so it’s the only country that would absolutely depend on it as a military resource. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/31 "2021-03-24T04:13:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As I understand it, the Suez Canal is just a ditch from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. There aren’t any locks to change levels and control the water flow, or which could be damaged by sabotage. While blowing up a ship in the canal would not be trivial, the fix might be as simple as removing the debris and dredging to the required depth. So… it’s not a terrorist plot as OP feared, but a viable solution to the current problem might be to place a huge bomb inside the ship _now_ and blow it up? ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/32 "2021-03-24T04:22:14Z")
I saw a youtube video of an ultra large cargo carrier aground due to rudder failure in Holland or Belgium, I think it took 12 tugs (with 10s of thousands of horsepower) to “refloat” the ship. (Edit) some of these things carry 20000+ “containers”, we’ve all seen them, something carried by tractor trailers, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/33 "2021-03-24T04:39:56Z")
Hard to imagine that would ever be the best option. I wonder if they could dam one end of the canal, and then use the tidal surge to raise the water level to float this ship a little higher, and then get it turned the right way. For all the power that tugboats have, they’re pushing against water. Someone upthread mentioned using cranes, but you don’t really need to lift, just pull. A ground-based winch might be able to give more of a pull than a tugboat, as long as it was anchored firmly enough on the side of the canal. It’s a fascinating Physics problem. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/34 "2021-03-24T06:42:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Would it make things any easier to unload the ship, so it floats higher? That is indeed SOP if necessary. The first step is checking hull integrity. I’m guessing that she’s gone softly aground on sand in which case probably no problem. Then to get her off, first step is just tugs. Next step is deballast (but of course she may not have been carrying much in the first place). These are combined with waiting for a higher tide but I don’t know how that works in the Suez Canal. Third is remove cargo, but it is a major quantum leap in expense and complication compared to the first two steps, so they will avoid it if possible. ---
**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 24, 2021, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/35 "2021-03-24T07:45:56Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > (but of course she may not have been carrying much in the first place) She’s fully loaded: [![](https://i.ibb.co/0QcjVf9/Ever-Green.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/0QcjVf9/Ever-Green.jpg) [BBC:](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56505413) > “If they are unable to pull her free… in a high tide, they are going to have to start removing cargo.” > > The operation to move the Ever Given, which could include removing large amounts of sand from around the areas where the vessel is grounded, may take days, Cairo24 news reported, citing an official at the Suez Canal Authority. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/36 "2021-03-24T07:59:29Z")
That’s why I said she may not be carrying much ballast ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/37 "2021-03-24T10:40:30Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > While blowing up a ship in the canal would not be trivial, the fix might be as simple as removing the debris and dredging to the required depth. [Here’s a relatively recent story about a bomb (the WW2 variety, not on a ship) blowing up in a canal](https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/14/europe/poland-tallboy-bomb-explodes-scli-intl/index.html). It is a very, very, very big bomb. There is a video. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/38 "2021-03-24T11:01:35Z")
How were the winches used to right battleships at Pearl Harbor anchored? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/39 "2021-03-24T11:45:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > From that image, it looks like there are roads on both sides of the canal. A crane on each side pulling the stern and bow in opposite directions seems the obvious solution. Tugboats pull pretty hard; according to Wikipedia, the biggest can exert over 60 tons of force. Cranes can lift a lot more, but they’re really designed for lifting vertically rather than dragging horizontally. You’d be better off using a big earth mover like this one: > **[Acco super bulldozer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acco_super_bulldozer)** > > .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}45°47′12″N 12°50′23″E / 45.7867°N 12.8396°E / 45.7867; 12.8396 > The Acco Super Bulldozer is the largest and most powerful tracked bulldozer ever made.\[citation needed\] It was built in Portogruaro in nort... But even that is going to have limited tractive force, based on its weight and its grip. It weighs 183 tons and will be sitting on dirt, so probably not much better tractive force than a tugboat (and they’ve already got a bunch of tugboats pulling on this ship without much luck). ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516/40 "2021-03-24T11:52:40Z")
Oil prices are already reacting - up 2% in early morning trading. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-suez-canal-blocked-by-a-mega-sized-container-vessel-cleared/938516.md?page=3)