Having a bad day? At least you haven’t wedged a container ship across the Suez Canal

Oonagh Keating. Updated March 24th, 2021

A lot of people’s Tuesdays took a turn for the worse when an almost 220,000 tonne container ship somehow became wedged in the Suez Canal.

The resulting traffic jam makes bank holiday weekend on the M25 look like a short queue for the self-checkout in Asda.

So, the #SuezCanal is blocked…

Massive container ship EVER GIVEN stuck in the most awkward way possible.

Ongoing for hours. Every tug Egypt could spare appear to be trying to pull it free.

Vessel tracker: https://t.co/MsTUgVgyTH pic.twitter.com/08w4qpPqln

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 23, 2021

The vesselfinder website shows the ship’s current location at exactly the same point as it was in last night, with this helpful additional info.

As one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, the Suez Canal’s current inaction is costing millions of pounds per hour to the many companies with cargo twiddling its metaphorical thumbs either side of the trapped ship.

We can only assume it asked Brexit to hold its beer.

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

Over on Instagram, Julianne Cona on the Maersk Denver shared the view from behind the EVER GIVEN.

“Ship in front of us ran aground while going through the canal and is now stuck sideways looks like we might be here for a little bit… #suezcanal #ranaground #stuck #wellthisisfun”

If only someone could have predicted that the ship might not be suitable for navigating the canal. If only …

My favorite detail about this story is that this ship is the size *above* the class of container ship known as "Suezmax," which is called that because it's the biggest type of ship that's supposed to use the Suez Canal https://t.co/40aFSSEcj2

— MGKLab 2021 (@mightygodking) March 23, 2021

Someone took an excavator to try and clear the blockage, in much the same way as you might try to empty a bath using an egg cup.

Latest update: the EVER GIVEN is… still ever-jammed across the #SuezCanal.

Also, a teeny excavator tried to help.

Thanks @rmcfadzean for surfacing the pic!
Source: https://t.co/MuUKctj4YP pic.twitter.com/AlCLJ7lSj8

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 23, 2021

Twitter couldn’t look away, and these reactions tickled us.

*inhales through teeth* “yeah, you see, what’s happened here is, you’ve got a massive container ship wedged in yer canal – that’s the problem. tricky.” https://t.co/IFBFwb1N2L

— tom freethestones (@freethestones) March 23, 2021

Just going to bulk buy this book and go to the Suez canal to sell them pic.twitter.com/gBi5Df0nPr

— Tomas (@M0by_Duck) March 23, 2021

getting on the PA and telling all hands to "check this shit out" as I whip the container vessel I'm piloting into a sick skid in the Suez Canal

— thomas violence (@thomas_violence) March 23, 2021

The ship wedged in the Suez is why we should always have a tame Kraken on duty at any one time

— Greg Jenner (@greg_jenner) March 23, 2021

Omg the Suez Canal is totally blocked. All the water will have to go around the long way.

— paul bassett davies (@thewritertype) March 23, 2021

Maybe I’d respect Oxford and Cambridge more if they did the boat race down the Suez Canal with massive container ships

— Lucy Watson (@Lucywwatson) March 23, 2021

Any newspaper people writing up the Suez Canal blockage for the morning's editions, you can have Dire Straits as a headline on me

— Tom Hourigan (@TomHourigan) March 23, 2021

The Suez Canal is completely blocked, between junctions 5 and 6 at Clacket Lane Services

— cluedont (@cluedont) March 23, 2021

Pretty pleased with my first day as lock keeper on the Suez Canal.

— Mr Roger Quimbly (@RogerQuimbly) March 23, 2021

10.

Attempting a 3 point turn was a big mistake https://t.co/duvfTjheoV

— Paul (@bingowings14) March 23, 2021

11.

Whatever you did today, whatever your shortcomings… you did not block the Suez Canal* with your gigantic boat.

*Unless of course, you're the captain of Ever Given. In which case, well– things happen.

— Jonathan Frederick (@jonmikefred) March 23, 2021

One tweeter spotted a solution.

If I was piloting one of those ships waiting in the Suez Canal I would simply squeeze through that gap pic.twitter.com/1jB1IF5KNd

— arch cfarrier (@paulSDMCR) March 23, 2021

Or not.

Source John Scott-Railton Image Julianne Cona, vesselfinder.com