Excavator works to free Ever Given ship stuck in Suez Canal - photo

[mklotz]

There isn't much of a history of this type of grounding from which to draw plans of attack for this one. If they don't get it right the first time and the ship capsizes or breaks up, they'll have an even bigger problem.

Unloading the ship is a tricky proposition. The ship has ~20,000 containers on board stacked as high as 300 feet. They would need to be unloaded in a precisely computed order to avoid capsize. There are no unloading cranes in the area and, even if there were, how long would that take?

Fortunately, the canal has no locks so it's subject to the tides. Perhaps that, in combination with some pushing and pulling from the land, will get it loose.