‘ENORMOUS BEACHED WHALE’

Giant Ship Stuck in Suez Canal Likely to Be There for Weeks

The container ship, nearly the size of the Empire State Building, is blocking more than 200 ships from accessing the major shipping route.

A massive container ship, nearly the size of the Empire State Building, is likely to be stuck in the Suez Canal for weeks, blocking one of the world’s most important shipping routes. Officials say they have nine tugs trying to unlodge the ship, which became stuck in a diagonal position due to high winds and a dust storm on Tuesday morning. A bulldozer is also aiding the effort but its comparably tiny size has spawned a fountain of memes online. The matter may take weeks to resolve, according to Peter Berdowski, CEO of heavy-lifting company Boskalis. The block may become the canal’s worst jam in years, with more than 200 huge container ships waiting to get through.

The world’s biggest shipping line, A.P. Moller Maersk, said the ship was “like an enormous beached whale. It’s an enormous weight on the sand. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand.”