What Really Happened at the Suez Canal?

Exploring the engineering principles behind the recent obstruction of the Suez Canal, which caused a weeklong disruption in global shipping traffic. I give a brief overview of the bank effect and dilatancy of coarse-grained soils. Hopefully, the video helps you understand a few of the engineering challenges associated with navigating massive ships through tiny canals and what can happen when they run aground!

Errata:
- I incorrectly described the landform as the "Suez Peninsula." It is the "Suez Isthmus."

Practical Engineering is a YouTube channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. Hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!

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This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

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Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Shutterstock, Pond5, and Videoblocks.
Satellite images copyright Maxar Technologies and CNES (Airbus)
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Producer/Host: Grady Hillhouse
Assistant Producer: Wesley Crump

[HonestlyYrTrippin]

Hey, Shipping Analyst here

The "finger trap" was spot on and something not mentioned in the Stirling Salvage lecture with Flexport. One extra thing of note: If you look at the bathymetric maps you can see that only the eastern half of the canal is deep enough to support cargo ship operations, the other half of the canal is for tenders and smaller vehicles. So the suction effect was very pronounced because the actual useable canal volume was much smaller.

Overall 10/10, very simple and gets down to the heart of the issue. I'm glad to see people are paying attention to maritime infrastructure, despite the fact that it has a huge impact on our lives most people don't know all that much about it. Stuff like the container crunch and everything else influencing global shipping sorta goes unnoticed usually.

[themrproamateur]

That picture of the excavator digging out the ship is actually really inspiring, depending on how you look at it

[atlas]

That excavator really puts the size of the ship into view

[brianjordan]

1970s; we need a bigger boat.
2020s; the boats too big.

[GerardMenvussa]

It was nice of the Moon to give a hand in removing the ship. Thank you, Moon :p

[narcissistectomy]

The inability to overcome pull-out force is the primary reason I’m now a father of three.

[joethebassplayer]

"luckily, I have an acrylic flume in my garage"... if I had a nickel every time I heard that one...

[bradlevantis]

I have been on the helm of a ship that started to experience bank suction. It’s the strangest feeling. You start to go sideways and steering away from the bank only puts your prop and rudder closer to the side. All you can do is slow down to reduce the squat and ease it away. But if it happens near a bend, game over. You need a lot of distance to overcome it

[tomrd]

10 minutes with Grady was clearer than 2 weeks of coverage on tv. You're the best, sir!

[EngineerFree]

Another great coverage of the engineering aspects of a current topic. Thanks Grady!

[FlameDarkfire]

The biggest thing I learned about this disaster was that the Suez Canal is literally just a hole cut into the desert. I had thought it at least had a concrete basin or something to protect the soil/sand from erosion.

[Peskyjooba]

“Disability to resist pull-out”
I understand that part of the video

[bobbywoods]

The world needs guys like this, just most aren't as publicly articulate and pleasant.

[MM-snix]

Your videos on current topics are an awesome extension to your "regular" content!!

[barryrahn]

Hey Grady, just want to say thank you for your videos. I'm not an engineer and I haven't studied advanced math or physics etc. Nonetheless, I love finding out about infrastructure, hydraulics and what makes this modern world of ours tick There's always an " ah " moment watching these videos. So keep up the good work - from one layman to an expert. Good on ya mate!

[ShankkaFanboy]

I was stuck in the convoy behind the evergiven for almost two weeks. This explains a lot but the only false piece off information you gave was about the pilots. They have very little special knowledge and are often only there to exploit their position of power to gain “bribes” of cigarettes money and other goods

[GAIS]

The bank effect was the first thing my 82 year old dad said when he learned what happened to the Ever Given. He used to be a skipper on a small freight vessel sailing the sea, lakes and canals around Sweden in the 50's and 60's.

[tdcattech]

This type of content is what makes YouTube a great platform.

[stillwaitingonmymatchwithj]

I was suppose to transit the Suez the day after this happened but because of this incident I was unable to. Ended up waiting about a week. The amount of ships backed up out of the Suez right after this was insane.

[Sawta]

Can you imagine being the first ship to be sent back through the canal after the Ever Given was finally unstuck? The amount of pressure on _not having the exact same thing happen a second time_ must have been absolutely crushing for the navigators.