The Ever Given, that massive cargo ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal, is still stuck.
The world has had a bit of a laugh about it — the flow of memes has been steady — but the blockage of one of the world's most important shipping channels for close to three days is causing some very big, very expensive problems.
Authorities have been doing their best to dislodge the huge vessel, but so far have had no luck in refloating the ship.
That's a problem for the ship's owners and the people waiting on the cargo on board, but it's also causing significant flow-on effects with well over 100 other ships waiting idly to get through and deliver goods around the world.
Here's what we know so far about the next steps to free the Ever Given and clear the channel.
Catch me up — what's happening in the Suez Canal?
- A cargo ship called the Ever Given (no, it's not called the Evergreen) ran aground in the Suez Canal on Tuesday and got stuck diagonally across it
- The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and is a crucial route from Europe to the Indian and western Pacific oceans
- The Ever Given has cut access in the middle of the waterway
- Crews have had no luck in dislodging it so far
- About 150 ships are in limbo either along the canal or at either end of it, waiting to get through
Supplied/Maritime Vessel Traffic
)What have they tried so far to move the Ever Given?
So far, backhoes and tug boats have tried to dislodge the Ever Given from its sandy shackles — to no avail.
Some pretty spectacular images have emerged of the sheer size of the task these machines are up against:
AP/Suez Canal Authority
)AP: Suez Canal Authority
)AP: Suez Canal Authority
)Most of the attempts have been made at high tide to give the ship the best chance of refloating, but so far, no luck.
How did the Ever Given get stuck?
Authorities are still trying to work this out, because it's certainly not an everyday occurrence — in fact, a blockage of this kind and to this scale has never happened in the canal's 150-year history.
The Ever Given entered the canal from the Red Sea on Tuesday morning local time, and ran aground about 45 minutes later.
Officials originally said the ship was impacted by strong winds, with later reports also citing a dust storm which could have affected visibility.
An initial report suggested the ship suffered a power blackout before the incident, but the ship's technical manager denied those claims and ruled out "any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding".
Marine cargo lawyer Ian Woods says the grounding probably occurred due to a "combination of factors", but a full investigation into the incident is expected.
How else can they try to free the ship from the canal?
The technical manager of the Ever Given, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, said in a statement that dredging to remove sand and mud is the main priority at the moment.
"In addition to the dredgers already on site, a specialised suction dredger is now with the vessel and will shortly begin work," the statement released on Thursday read.
After that, it sounds like the next step will be to remove some cargo from the ship in an attempt to make it lighter.
The ship weighs around 220,000 tons and as attempts to dislodge it continue to fail, the team says it may have to remove at least some of the ship’s containers and drain the vessel of the water serving as ballast to make progress.
From there, more dredging will be needed before tug boats return and (hopefully) nudge the ship out of the hole it has driven in the sand.
AP/Google Earth
)You can hear the faint calls of "why didn't they do that in the first place", right?
Well, an Egyptian official told media earlier in the week that workers were hoping to avoid that scenario because getting everything off the ship could take weeks.
A team of experts who specialise in responding to boat-related disasters arrived from the Netherlands on Thursday to join the refloatation efforts.
But Peter Berdowski, the CEO of the company leading the efforts to free the ship, Boskalis, says there's a chance it could take weeks to move the vessel.
Are the Ever Given crew OK?
As far as we know, they are.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement confirmed the 25 crew on board, all Indian nationals, were safe and accounted for.
The crew are still on board the vessel, and are helping to get the ship floating again.
We haven't heard much yet from crews on the other boats affected by the incident about what this means for them.
