This video gives some insight on how ships can get wedged into narrow canals.
Full report:
Yowza. I read the report.
That sounds like some local canal pilots utterly screwed that ship’s pooch. I hope Evergreen paid zero in damages to anyone for this event, and in fact were highly compensated by the pilot company / canal operator for the time their ship was stuck and their reputation was being widely abused.
This was one of those divergent situations where the pilots overcontrolled until they lost it. Kinda like somebody skidding on a slippery road first overdoing it to left then to right then to left then … KRUNCH!!! But in the ponderous slow-motion nail-biting style of big ships. Once you’re screwed there’s nothing to do but sit there and wait and watch the disaster occur.
Shitty difficult weather conditions to be sure. I’m no mariner, but ISTM that the ships have gotten far larger than really makes sense in a canal of that size. We certainly operate big airplanes in similar scenarios where no one increase in traffic volume or airplane size is obviously beyond the pale, but the net effect of cumulative increases in both with no corresponding increases in infrastructure slowly but inevitably renders a formerly safe and sane situation simply an accident waiting to happen. Which accidents are avoided daily by dint of careful professional ops and a modicum of good luck. Until they aren’t.
IIRC, according to Egyptian law the pilot company (a government-owned entity) is basically immune to everything and liable for nothing. Evergreen is screwed in this regard.