The Suez Canal’s worst stuck-ship fiasco lasted eight whole years

An enormous container ship by the name of Ever Given has been stuck in the Suez Canal since Tuesday, and the bottleneck of marine traffic created by the unfortunate vessel could take weeks to clear.

Fiasco though this undoubtedly is—one with major repercussions for the global shipping system—history offers a reminder that things could be worse.

In 1967, 14 cargo ships were traveling through the Suez when the Six-Day War broke out between Israel and neighboring Arab countries Jordan, Egypt, and Syria, turning the canal into a combat zone. Egyptian authorities instructed the ships’ crews to anchor in the widest part of the Suez, Great Bitter Lake. Though the war lasted a matter of days, the ships would remain stranded there for the next eight years.

Read the rest of this story on qz.com. Become a member to get unlimited access to Quartz’s journalism.