A massive container ship that was headed towards the Mediterranean has caused an actual traffic jam on one of the busiest sea trade links, the Suez Canal after it ran aground sideways. The 200,000-tonne vessel, named ‘Ever Given’ and operated by Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine ended up lodging sideways sometime in Tuesday after being hit by strong winds. The incident has ended up blocking several ships on either side on one of the most important sea routes. The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and is also the shortest sea route between Asia and Europe. Digging boats have been set to work to help the stuck vessel back on its route.
The vessel is 400m long and 59 metres wide and has made it impossible for any other ship to pass through. Egypt has reportedly reopened the canal’s older channel to allow the other vessels to pass through as the refloating the Ever Given might take some time, thus delaying vessel movement.
The internet, as soon as it caught wind of the giant vessel stuck on the Canal, had a lot to say.
If you think youre having a bad day, spare a thought for the helmsman who somehow managed to stick his giantass ship sideways into the goddamn Suez Canal & blocked it into literal gridlock & is currently costing every seafaring nation of Earth like millions of dollars every hour pic.twitter.com/DIWAxwctXa— Shiv Ramdas (@nameshiv) March 24, 2021
And Twitter being twitter, there were some jokes to tag along with it.
What is happing in #SuezCanal today explained.#Egypt pic.twitter.com/T06bFDGQ7q— Zaina Erhaim (@ZainaErhaim) March 24, 2021
#Suez nobody told the captain it was a little tight for a U-turn in the middle of the channel?— Tian Drechsler (@TianDrechsler) March 24, 2021
🎶🎵There once was a ship who sailed to sea,🎶🎵And then it crashed into the side of the Suez Canal.— not a cat (@simonnfox) March 24, 2021
For the record, "giant ship gets stuck in the Suez Canal" is a great part of a heist plot.— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) March 24, 2021
The once was a ship in Suez channel, it ran aground in awkward manner, The name of the ship was Ever Given, this one mistake won't be forgiven— Nyarlat Hotep (@nyarlathotepesq) March 24, 2021
If you are having a bad day, remember someone at the Suez Canal is having a worse day https://t.co/JJ2demW3Yz— Shreef 😷 (@shreef) March 24, 2021
twitter hasn't talked about the suez canal this much since 1956— the not relaxed guy (@mice_nerd) March 24, 2021
The ship’s company Evergreen Marine reprortedly said that the ship “suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate… and accidentally hit the bottom and run aground”. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has said that it is working to get the ship refloat.
