Freeing the stuck container ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal

Click For Summary
The Ever Given container ship is stuck in the Suez Canal due to its bow digging into the sandy ground, complicating efforts to refloat it. Various engineering solutions have been proposed, including adjusting ballast and using helicopters to offload cargo, although these methods face logistical challenges. The ship carries approximately 20,000 containers, and unloading them could take weeks, further disrupting global supply chains. Current efforts focus on utilizing high tides and dredging to free the vessel without removing cargo. The situation raises questions about financial responsibility for the incident, potentially involving the shipping company and insurance claims.
  • #31
berkeman said:
Apparently the ship length is comparable to the height of the Empire State Building in New York. Trust me, military Air-Ops can work with 40 helos in the air at once on this assignment. :smile:

In the air yes. Lifting cargo at once? No. 40 birds is 10 meter separation and the things have 20 meter rotors. Add wind and underslung loads and even more no.

However, I think they might be able to get more than the OP's estimate of 3 you were responding to, but I'm not sure on the safety margins.
 
  • Like
Likes Nugatory, berkeman and 256bits
Engineering news on Phys.org
  • #32
They just need underwater tractors to pull it out
 
  • Haha
Likes Vanadium 50, Klystron and berkeman
  • #33
Baluncore said:
I expect it will also be difficult to find sufficient points on the boat strong enough to attach the cables.

mundra-india-december-forecastle-container-vessel-port-mundra-december-mundra-india-forecastle...jpg
 
  • #34
ardnog said:
In the air yes. Lifting cargo at once? No. 40 birds is 10 meter separation and the things have 20 meter rotors. Add wind and underslung loads and even more no.

However, I think they might be able to get more than the OP's estimate of 3 you were responding to, but I'm not sure on the safety margins.
a traffic control communications problem also.
 
  • #35
@ardnog
It would take hundreds of those thin wires to drag that boat free. The boat would need hundreds of additional attachment points welded to the structure over a very wide area.

Look at the depth that the bulbous bow is buried in the bank.
 
  • Like
Likes Lnewqban
  • #36
ardnog said:
View attachment 280448
they could use those points of application when the ship becomes unstuck.
 
  • #37
ardnog said:
View attachment 280448
Won't work from front. My idea was about puling on the aft end, at a ~90 degree angle from across the canal.
 
  • #38
According to the Washington Post, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told Egyptian television that officials were preparing for the "third scenario" of unloading containers from the massive ship so that it can be refloated and open up one of the world's busiest waterways. The canal has been blocked for five days now, leaving more than 300 ships waiting to pass through.

Apparently Egyptian President al-Sissi ordered preparations to be made for the unloading of the Ever Given cargo carrier. One option I heard mentioned was bringing in a crane ship, or floating crane, and loading an empty container ship (apparently they found one) one-by-one. I presume the other ship would have to wait to follow Ever Given north, otherwise, they ship would have to reverse or pass the Ever Given assuming the Ever Given and be unstuck quickly.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Likes Klystron and 256bits
  • #39
Baluncore said:
@ardnog
It would take hundreds of those thin wires to drag that boat free. The boat would need hundreds of additional attachment points welded to the structure over a very wide area.

The upper limit on towing abiltiy will be the strength of the hull itself as opposed to the towing points and cables. Breaking the ship apart would be a really bad idea.
 
  • #40
ardnog said:
Breaking the ship apart would be a really bad idea.
Maybe cutting off the bulbous bow forward of a bulkhead would be an economic solution.
I would cut it with shaped charges, then fill the bow with concrete and finish the voyage.
 
  • Like
Likes Lnewqban
  • #41
Baluncore said:
Maybe cutting off the bulbous bow forward of a bulkhead would be an economic solution.
I would cut it with shaped charges, then fill the bow with concrete and finish the voyage.

First of all, you lose bouyancy and then the front goes down.

Second, I don't know if you can do that. This thing isn't a warship.

If you can't dig it out, unloading it sounds like a good idea.
 
  • #42
ardnog said:
Second, I don't know if you can do that. This thing isn't a warship.
Yes I could do that. The cut would be diagonal and close to the water so as to disconnect the grounded bow. Why does it need to be a warship?
The cost of fixing it later is trivial compared to the losses accumulating while the canal is blocked.
 
  • Like
Likes Lnewqban
  • #43
Baluncore said:
Yes I could do that. The cut would be diagonal and close to the water so as to disconnect the grounded bow. Why does it need to be a warship?
The cost of fixing it later is trivial compared to the losses accumulating while the canal is blocked.

Becuase you want to cut important bits of it off and sail it around and I don't know if you can do that wth that type of ship. Maybe you do know if you're an expert in that; I'm not and I don't.
 
Last edited:
  • #44
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/...to-free-ship-stranded-in-suez-canal-authority

This is probably the most detailed report you'll get outside of a specalised journal or egyptian news. Details some of the exact problems they've encounted.

There is damage to the bow, they don't know what type of sand it's sitting in, there's now water under the bow (a good sign), there's an annoyingly placed rock, and they're trying to work out how hard they can pull it without breaking something.
 
  • #45
According to the BBC, "Although strong tides and winds complicated efforts, the tugboats managed to move the ship "30 degrees from left and right", said General Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA)," but apparently the bulbous bow is still stuck.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56547383

If they could move it 30 degress, I'm wondering why they can't be pulling it backwards as well.
 
  • #46
Astronuc said:
If they could move it 30 degress, I'm wondering why they can't be pulling it backwards as well.

Specualtion on my part but it's probably pivoting on the aforementoned rock.
 
  • #47
With the proper equipment, if available in that area, the sand that is adjacent to the metal could be at least partially liquified via hydraulic vibration or injection of air or water.



 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes 256bits
  • #48
Astronuc said:
According to the BBC, "Although strong tides and winds complicated efforts, the tugboats managed to move the ship "30 degrees from left and right", said General Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA)," but apparently the bulbous bow is still stuck.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56547383

If they could move it 30 degress, I'm wondering why they can't be pulling it backwards as well.
Perhaps they pivoted the ship about the bulb?
If so, they had a quarter-mile lever.
 
  • #49
Rive said:
Won't work from front. My idea was about puling on the aft end, at a ~90 degree angle from across the canal.

There are even more on the back, but it is harder to get a good photo of their mechanisms. If you look at the stern of a container ship you will see a line of rectangular holes. If you look inside those you will see mooring attachment points and the emergency towing arrangement. You may also see these on the side, particular near the rear.

EDIT: Large ships aver these front and rear as they are maneuvered by tugs in harbor, and for emergency regulations.

ALeqM5jp658COfQgSLz2Xpebn4nhiAo7mg.jpeg
 
  • Like
Likes Rive and Lnewqban
  • #50
According to the BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/56523659, the bow of ship ran aground on a sand bar as well as impacting the bank. It's not so easy to back up the ship. Apparently the stern had to be dug out, or dredge out, as well.

I went looking for a cross-section or lateral profile of the Suez Canal, which has increased over time.
https://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/English/About/SuezCanal/Pages/CanalCharacteristics.aspx

The Suez Canal Authority plans on further improvements.
https://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/English/About/SuezCanal/Pages/NewSuezCanal.aspx

Still I would think it plausible to work the ship back and forth, while applying thrust to the rear.

The significance of a bulbous bow.
https://safety4sea.com/cm-do-you-know-what-the-bulbous-bow-is-for/

I'm wondering if it would be feasible for a team/formation of skycrane helicopters to lift containers off the ship either to the shoreline, or a different ship. By how much does the weight of the Ever Given have to be reduced to float it away from is stuck position? 10%? It would see plausible to remove containers from the bow/front area enough to lighten the bow and tilt the ship toward the stern.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes Lnewqban
  • #51
Copied from:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given

"For maneuvering in ports, Ever Given has two 2,500 kW (3,400 hp) bow thrusters."

Note the location of the two thrusters indicated by marks close to the water-line by the anchors.
The second picture shown in post ##16 seems to indicate that the sand/mud has reached those two cavities.

9_03_Innovation_3-Querstrahler_im-Bug_2kk_DSCI0786.jpg


showphoto.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • #52
At one time I worked on a ship that had a through the hull bow thruster and two screws at the stern that were independently powered.
They could make that ship go sideways.
It was a much smaller (and more maneuverable) ship that the Ever Given. It was about 250 feet long and the bridge might have been at the level of the boarding opening by the name on the side, if that high up.
 
  • Like
Likes Lnewqban
  • #54
berkeman said:
Probably just returning to home port to reload, I'd guess. I just used Google Images to find an empty container ship.
There’s no such thing as an empty container ship except when it’s leaving the shipyard or heading to the ship breakers. Even when there’s no return cargo the empty containers have to go back, so we get a container ship full of empty containers, not an empty container ship.

However, depending on how the containers are removed (this has to be done in a particular order to avoid destabilizing the ship) it may be possible to pile them up on land, dump them onto available barges, truck them away... but 20000 times some number of minutes is a long time even with some reasonable amount of parallelism.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes 2milehi and russ_watters
  • #55
Here’s a chart from one of the maritime traffic tracking sites. In this part of the canal the channel is dredged on the left-hand side and the right-hand side is shoal water. It’s not just the bow that’s stuck in the bank, a substantial portion of the hull is well and thoroughly aground.
35A1C97A-4A89-495F-81FA-EAF5D763DE41.png
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Likes BillTre, Astronuc, hutchphd and 1 other person
  • #56
ardnog said:
Breaking the ship apart would be a really bad idea.

Easier to get it out in pieces. 😈

Baluncore said:
The cost of fixing it later is trivial compared to the losses accumulating while the canal is blocked.

That's true, but the people who will pay for the repair are not necessarily those who are losing money because the canal is closed.

I don't know how much one of these ships costs, but I'd imagine between $100M and $200M. So we're quickly coming onto the point where losses exceed the cost of one ship. If there's one thing we've learned in the last 5 days is that extraction will not be simple.
 
  • #57
Vanadium 50 said:
Easier to get it out in pieces
I am reminded of the horse and Dean Wormer’s office :smile:
It floated into this situation and floating it out is by far the easiest solution... breaking a ship into pieces small enough to lift out of the channel with a crane is a seriously big job.
 
  • Like
Likes Klystron, Astronuc and Vanadium 50
  • #58
Two questions:
1) Are the bottom contours the result of prevailing winds and sand or is there geo structure there?
2) Could you sever the bow (in a watertight way) and float it out ..it seems to be less profoundly encircled?

Man that thing is stuck
 
  • #59
Nugatory said:
I am reminded of the horse and Dean Wormer’s office

Seven years of college down the drain.

Nugatory said:
It floated into this situation and floating it out is by far the easiest solution

Certainly true, but now that the bow ballast tanks are filled with water, it's no longer in the same condition as it was at the start of all this. I think it will take a mixture of lightning and dredging and tugging and pumping to undo all this.
 
  • #60
Ever Given ship partially freed in the Suez Canal, authority confirms
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/29/africa/suez-canal-refloating-intl-hnk/index.html

The stern has been freed and the ship rotated away from the west bank. They are waiting for high tide and hope to align the ship with the canal, then tow it north to the Bitter Lakes.

The high tides will begin to lessen this week.

Edit/Update: Bloomberg - Giant Ship Finally Freed, Allowing Canal to Reopen: Suez Update
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/progress-made-moving-ship-more-045211868.html
The Ever Given container ship stuck in the Suez Canal was finally pulled free, allowing the crucial trade route to reopen to traffic.

The vessel is now fully afloat, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement. The ship was moving north from where it was grounded, according to ship-tracking data and television footage.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ever-given-freed-from-the-suez-canal-2021-3
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes BillTre, Klystron, berkeman and 1 other person