How One Ship Caused a Global Traffic Jam

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On March 23, 2021 the container ship Ever Given was on it’s journey between the port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia and Rotterdam in the Netherlands when it was sailing through the Suez Canal in Egypt. The ship was surprised by a sandstorm and rammed itself into the side wall of the canal. Even though the blockade is resolved, it is expected that the delay is expected to cause a ripple effect that will add stress to port facilities and even inland infrastructure.

Images via Getty

[MessOfThings]

I really like how "dudes on the internet" do so much better at covering these incidents than the actual news does.

[Gospel-xmvd]

First time the memes were faster than the news

[EvenlyDay]

2 years had already passed? Felt like this was just last month.

[SetTheCurve]

I can’t help but be happy this is happening. I love when weaknesses are exposed, because it leads to solutions and a more robust and sometimes more balanced economy. We may not have had support for expansion of the canal or creation of alternatives without this. It also gives us an opportunity to look for local solutions and suppliers.

[johnnyharris]

The 3D work on this was sooo well done and helpful. Nice work!!

[eiman]

The ship actually was hijacked by the penguin from madagascar...they’re heading to Antarctica

[buffintl]

I actually sailed through there in the Navy. Those sand storms are no joke and we was on an aircraft carrier.

[onimusha]

Now according to what I've heard, the ship was not actually stuck because of a sandstorm but rather because of the bank cushion and suction effect. According to one report, although the winds were high that day, there was no actual sandstorm. The winds however, still affected the ship causing it to sway between the sides of the channel and in an attempt to reduce the drift from side to side the vessel increased her speed. This increase in speed also increased the effects of bank suction and cushion so when the vessel neared one side of the channel, bank cushion caused the bow of the vessel to be repelled to the other side of the channel while bank suction sucked the stern in the opposite direction.

[ginn]

i bet that this is a video that everyone will see in their recommended videos in about 8 years

[mattpope]

A reminder that as much as we celebrate our cleverness, our powerful machines and our complex systems of trade, we are still at the mercy of the winds, the tides and geography.

[SpencerKingsman]

Never really realized how big that ship was. Now I get why it was stuck so long

[jjk]

Crazy how a hundred something hour of traffic jam affects the global economy. The ripple effect is mind blowing.

[arijitghosh]

Mom:
"Why you didn't get all the grocery products that I have listed?"
Me:
"There is a traffic jam caused by an Empire State building sized ship".

[AbhishekBM]

The graphics, animation and the narrator's accent makes me feel like it's a LEMMiNO video.

[hk]

This feels like those history documentaries and video essays you watch late at night, except the history is current events and we are living through this right now
Can't wait for history classes in the future to be watching videos like this one lol

[DineshKumardk]

Its fascinating how a single ship caused this many affects to the whole world

[Riuka]

It's genuinely frightening how easily our "well planned and well thought out" system can come to a complete halt for only a few days and that can disrupt the entire world and and have an impact for months... How can 12% of the world trade volume per day depend on 54 ships crossing the canal? Frighteningly fragile

[fraizie]

No way this was three years ago already

[RandomStuffIol]

This was 3 years ago feels like maybe 1

[luridftwgaming]

The 3D renderings and animations really help put it all into perspective. I never would have compared it to the Titanic and never would have known it was bigger.