AD1184
Celestial
This story has dropped way down the list of priorities for the world's media in recent days, but I think that it is probably one of the most important ongoing global news stories at the moment, and deserves its own thread.
https://news.google.com/stories/CAA...ibWNnVTNWbGVpQkRZVzVoYkNCamIyNTBhVzUxWlNnQVAB
So far, all efforts to remove the bow of the Ever Given from its present position--embedded in the bank of the canal--have failed.
The mainstream news media are reporting that there are fears the channel may remain blocked for many weeks. However, it could be even worse than that.
The bow has clearly risen, placing a lot of strain on the ship's midsection. There is partial flooding of the forward bow thruster rooms already. The canal is tidal, with a tidal range up to five feet. Currently there is a full moon and thus a spring tide, giving near-maximum tidal range. This tidal movement places cyclical stress on the ship's structure that it is not designed to support.
Any effort to remove the ship from the bank is necessarily going to place further strain on the structure. It is not out of the question that an ultra-large container vessel such as this could have its structure fail in the effort. If it did so, it would leave the Canal blocked for a protracted period. The Costa Concordia cruise ship, about half the displacement of the Ever Given, took two years to salvage when it capsized in shallow water off the coast of Italy. There was more room to manoeuvre around that vessel at the time, it having sunk in open water.
The global economic impact of this event is significant, and could become immense, depending on how long the canal remains blocked.
https://news.google.com/stories/CAA...ibWNnVTNWbGVpQkRZVzVoYkNCamIyNTBhVzUxWlNnQVAB
So far, all efforts to remove the bow of the Ever Given from its present position--embedded in the bank of the canal--have failed.
The mainstream news media are reporting that there are fears the channel may remain blocked for many weeks. However, it could be even worse than that.
The bow has clearly risen, placing a lot of strain on the ship's midsection. There is partial flooding of the forward bow thruster rooms already. The canal is tidal, with a tidal range up to five feet. Currently there is a full moon and thus a spring tide, giving near-maximum tidal range. This tidal movement places cyclical stress on the ship's structure that it is not designed to support.
Any effort to remove the ship from the bank is necessarily going to place further strain on the structure. It is not out of the question that an ultra-large container vessel such as this could have its structure fail in the effort. If it did so, it would leave the Canal blocked for a protracted period. The Costa Concordia cruise ship, about half the displacement of the Ever Given, took two years to salvage when it capsized in shallow water off the coast of Italy. There was more room to manoeuvre around that vessel at the time, it having sunk in open water.
The global economic impact of this event is significant, and could become immense, depending on how long the canal remains blocked.