The Ever Given, the massive container ship stuck in Egypt's Suez Canal, has been wedged in place since Tuesday morning.
The location of the grounding couldn't have been worse: the Suez Canal is a vital but narrow link in many global supply chains, and delays there can be felt around the world.
The Ever Given with its bow stuck in the wall of the Suez Canal.
Suez Canal Authority via AP
Egyptian authorities have been scrambling to dislodge the vessel, and - despite one false alarm - have no had full success yet.
Tuesday morning: the Ever Given gets stuck
These maps show that the Ever Given took a meandering route before heading into the canal.
A mariner on board another ship, the Maersk vessel MV Denver, later wrote that the Ever Given cut in line ahead of the Denver, as shown in this Instagram comment, which was posted to Twitter by somebody else:
-????????Ⓐ Radicals are Dead Ⓐ???????? (@oveertlyhonest) March 23, 2021
At nearly 200 feet wide and 1,300 feet long, it easily took up the width of the channel.
The mariner on board MV Denver posted this image of the view:
A post shared by Julianne Cona (@fallenhearts17)
Officials attributed the accident to high winds and sandstorms. Sandstorms are not unusual at this time of year in Egypt.
Early reports suggested that the ship's power failed, leading it to drift from its course. The was contradicted by the ship's technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), which said in a statement to Insider that "initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding."
A satellite managed to capture a view of the Ever Given from space on Tuesday:
Planet Labs Inc satellite image shows the Ever Given stranded in the Suez Canal, Egypt March 23, 2021.
Planet Labs via Reuters
Egyptian authorities attempted to tow the ship
Eight tugs were in action trying to tow the vessel on Wednesday. A satellite image shows the position of the Ever Given, represented by a green dot, surrounded by some of tugs, marked in blue. Their relative size is not to scale.
A satellite view as of 3.40 p.m. local time Wednesday showing the Ever Given and surrounding traffic.
MarineTraffic.com
Here is a view of one tugboat, the Baraka 1, in front of the Ever Given, provided by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on Wednesday:
The Ever Given, shown here behind a smaller vessel, was still stranded on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 in the Suez Canal.
Suez Canal Authority via AP
Here is Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie, chair of the SCA, talking to staff on a boat nearby:
Lt. Gen. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, second right, speaks to other staff onboard a boat near the stuck cargo ship MV Ever Green Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
Suez Canal Authority via AP
A 'bulbous bow' to blame?
Shipping analyst John Scott-Railton, based at the University of Toronto, suggested that the design of the ship's bow - a large, bulbous prong embedded in the bank of the canal - could help explain how it got so badly stuck.
In a statement to Insider Wednesday, Danish shipping company Maersk called the Suez Canal is a "crucial" shipping lane. It said seven of its vessels had been held up by the blockage.
"Four of them are stuck in the canal system while the rest are waiting to enter the passage," the statement read.
Satellite imagery below shows the crowds of vessels gathering Wednesday as they try to pass through from both sides.
A satellite view as of 3.40 p.m. local time Wednesday showing the Ever Given and surrounding traffic.
MarineTraffic.com
The Suez Canal received an upgrade in 2015, when a newer, large channel was built alongside the one originally opened in 1869.
On its opening, Egyptian President Abd El Fattah El-Sisi called it "Egypt's gift to the world."
According to Prof. Rocky Weitz, director of the Fletcher Maritime Studies Program at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, the old channel provided partial relief to the blockage.
"Ships have been diverted to the older channel to provide some relief to the current blockage," he told Insider. "But the older channel is smaller, so larger vessels will need to wait until the main channel is reopened."
These side-by-side satellite images show the canal in 2014 (on the left) and 2016 (on the right), after the newer channel was opened:
(L) The Suez Canal in 2014, before its expansion. (R) shows the canal in 2016, with the new channel.
Landsat
An announcement that the ship had been re-floated was quickly quashed
Hope appeared at around noon on Wednesday. Shipping agent GAC Egypt, citing the SCA, said that the ship had been moved "alongside" the canal bank, a term which means the ship is parallel to the waterway.
"Convoys and traffic are expected to resume as soon as vessel is towed to another position," read the announcement.
Cargo shipping has been under enormous strain in the pandemic, with major difficulties in refreshing crews or servicing vessels, as Insider reported. The Ever Given's position could throw another spanner in the works.
Weitz, the maritime expert, said that the costs and delay stacked up so far are relatively small, but much longer could be damaging.
"If the blockage continues for a week or longer, then we will start seeing major ripple effects across supply chains - particularly for European refineries that depend on a predictable volume of crude oil transiting the Suez Canal by tanker," he told Insider.
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