Iâve been having a look into the background of this. This failed three point turn is holding up 12.5% of the worldâs trade, billions of dollars a day in lost trade.
The Suez Crisis II : Wayblock, is worthy of its own thread.
What shit is this going to dump on the world?
Nicked from someone else (presumably American) on the Net.
âitâs holding up so much important stuff theyâre going to rename it McConnell.â
âI am sorry to tell you that have failed your test, please compose yourself before returning us safely back to the centreâ.
If they had just stayed in the centre, none of this would have happened. 
What gets me in one of the early reports it says the vessel was hit by high winds and sandstorms there was no malfunction of the steering equipment it then further on in the article says it suffered a blackout. If it had a blackout it would have lost all steering and engine control. Why were the tugs not made fast front and stern like they used to be when I routinely transited the canal?
It is incredible how âthe worldâ allowed itself to globalise & outsource with 2 simple bottle necks, Suez & Panama sitting there waiting to fvck everything up.
Trade war with China? They just pop a fuse on one of @PhilippineSaint mates boats and set a simple lump of C4 in the middle of a container.
The effect on British politics would be world ending g - no more Primark or eyebrow imports
We have movement apparently!
Not freed yet, the front is still stuck but hopefully all over bar the shouting at the next high tide.
Written by one of my colleagues.
Who knowâs what heâs on about.
Whatâs on my mind? Well, Iâll tell you⌠the utter bollox being spouted by the so-called Global standard-setting alleged news organ called the BBC. Ever since (pun absolutely intended) this mighty vessel managed to unite Africa and Asia, Iâve been reading utter shite from everywhere about it⌠but nowhere worse than under the three squares containing the second and third letters of the alphabet. Today I read (below, in case you doubt me) that âAlthough strong tides and winds complicated efforts to free the ship, the tugboats managed to move it 30 degrees in two directions.â
30 degrees in 2 directions? Have they sawn the thing in half??? Even if you are a college-educated ink-slinger with no more experience of the outdoors than watching Charlie Dimmockâs rear cleavage pulsating in the petunias, who canât think of any research asset that doesnât start with âGâ or âWâ, and wouldnât know a proof-reader from a roof-leader, you might, just possibly, have realised that sentence, if remotely true, would have been accompanied by rather more spectacular photos. As for âcomplicatedâ by tides⌠what is it? You wrote yesterday that they were hoping for help from the tides!
Here, therefore, for the education of the morons who commission, write and publish this blatant drivel, are a few things that you MIGHT usefully have told us right from the very beginning if you had, for instance, have picked up a phone and asked a sailor!
Sudden gusts of wind. Possibly, but anyone who has been in the Suez Canal can tell you that strong winds are predoiminantly Northerly, so they blow along the canal, not across it. Also, container ships have a very even windage profile along their length, so when hit by sidewind they tend to go sideways, not skew. A wind along the canal alone would not cause this, and a wind across the canal would have pushed the ship to lie along the bank. Also, no other vessel seems to have been affected by this wind (and it doesnât take a Master Mariner to work that out, now, does it, Beeb?) Ergo- this was never likely to be wind alone. Something else started this.
Angle across the canal. The ship has evidently sheered considerably from her course. To a sailor, this immediately suggests one thing⌠interaction. Ships proceeding at any speed create pressure-fields⌠generally, positive pressure ahead and astern, and negative pressure amidships. When this happens in close proximity to the bottom or side of the sea, it can cause very powerful turning forces, and the faster you go, the more powerful they are. Also, water squeezing through the narrow gap between the shipâs bottom and the canal bed can cause a number of strong effects, ranging from sheering forces to âsquatâ, where the vessel sinks lower in the water or changes her trim. Ever Given was reported to be steaming at 11 knots in a canal. Go figure! Interaction of one sort or another must be considered as a possible cause. How about the speed? Was it normal? Excessive? Your answers on a postcard, pleaseâŚ
Reports are coming in of a âblackoutâ. I know what that is, because Iâm a sailor, but most people donât⌠but the Beeb just writes it and leaves it, because they donât understand either⌠and apparently are quite happy to remain that way. So- blackouts- could be many things. Was it the main engine that blacked out? Or was it the power generation? Was there a surge of electrical demand that tripped the switch board? Were sufficient generators running for pilotage conditions? Did the lights go out? Was it a partial failure of, say, the steering gear? Or a fuel problem?Some vessels have shaft-generators which economise on fuel by using the main engine to generate when steaming, but these should not be used in manoeuvring situations⌠was one fitted? Was it in use? Shall we dig a little further? Might be pertinentâŚYou wonât get the answers as yet, but the questions can start to be asked.
Tides. Tide height changes in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean are modest. A really high tide at Suez might be a few feet, but how much of that pushes up the narrow canal? Not much. The extreme tidal range at the middle of the canal, as I recall, is about 1 ft 6â. How significant is that? Well, very simply put, it would lift a floating ship 450 mm between high and low water. But when? Spring tide, which occur shortly after the full and new moon. Are we shortly after the full moon now? I believe we are! Gosh, what a lot we are finding out, arenât we? So⌠the tide is just about to reach its maximum range⌠and may help or hinder (when you make your mind up which it is) by 450mm. Why would it help? Well, it might lift the ship enough to free it, or reduce the weight at the ends, so that it can be towed straight again. But if it drops too much, two things may happen. 1 The ends will embed even more deeply into the banks, and 2 the unsupported middle of the loaded and very long ship may fail. The ship might break her back. So, tide- friend or foe? We can at least explain it the issues.
If we do have to unload her, whatâs involved? Well, physically speaking, it is prudent to lift the top layer off first. A ship this size may âstackâ containers 8 or 9 layers high. Each âboxâ is 2.59 metres. Add the ships freeboard- say 10 metres, could even be 15. The top of the stack may be 35 metres abpove sea level. Then we have to reach the middle of a 58m wide ship. The ship doesnât have any cranes, so, we need a crane that can either work from a barge or drive down the canal side that can lift 30 tonnes with a height of at least 40 metres and an out reach of 30 metres. Do we have such a crane? No. The only thing that could reach would be a heavy-lift crane, which would take weeks to get there and then work so slowly that it would be quicker to use a tin-opener and unload the containers by hand. So, can we unload her? Not an option. It would take months.But hang on! Could we lighten her another way? Could we remove, say, her ballast and fuel? Gosh! I think we could! Shall we ask about that? No, we wonât- because we studied journalism, not nautical science, and, since we wonât talk to someone who did study ducks in the bath, weâre probably going to miss an opportunity.
Ships going through Suez have broken down before. Why is it a problem this time? Most ships carry âlineboatsâ which are loaded on deck and, in case of a problem, carry the ships mooring lines to the mooring posts which are placed every couple of hundred mtres all through the canal. But a container ship has no crane to lift the boats, and no deck to stow them on⌠is this a factor in the accident? Or were other provisions made?
We might want to have a little look into the history of Evergreen as a company. Certainly a very major shipping organisation, and certainly innovative with their new containerships⌠how about their reputation amongst sailors? Their casualty record? Should we have a look? Might be significant⌠you could probably do that on Google. In fact, if a large bank or financial organisation had done something questionable, I think we would have gleefully published a list of previous transgressions, or possibly even an appreciation of previous probity. Why not here?
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Egypt hosed-down Israeli tank barriers made of sand using high-pressure hoses in a matter of minutes. I wonder if they still have those hoses in the stores⌠because the Suez Canal is made of sandâŚ
Just a few quick thoughts which, by having a quick word with me or one of several thousand similarly- or better qualified people than me, the BBC could have made a small effort and begun to inform their readers, instead of writing the valueless nonsense quoted here. Those readers who are British nationals, of course, are the Beebâs de-facto shareholders so, if anyone reading this little rant has found anything I have written enlightening or infomative, then why donât you drop Aunty a caustic note and ask why found out more from a social media post than they did from the worldâs self-styled premier news organ?
Thatâs all very well but for the vast majority of absorbers of âThe Truthâ it was a gust of wind and thatâs what Iâll be pedalling today as my knowledgeable insight.
Thanks for that anyway Phil.
This made me laugh, however the âink slingerâ might have a point - if you rotate the vessel on its axis, the rear of the vessel goes one way and the pointy end the other, ie in two directions.
Best not mention it to your mate - he sounds like he is a step away from the mouth foaming stage
So the wind is âyour truthâ?
Yep, itâs the majority view from what Iâve been told by Wayne and Debbie. This is The Internet mate, the majority view carries the day. 
Bloody Brits.
You just hate being left out
