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Is that ship still stuck?

istheshipstillstuck.com

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Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#381
post #39

I don't think people are giving enough credit to how stuck the ship is. Look at some of the photos of the front of it. Look at how far out of the water it is sitting. The ship might look like that if it were totally empty, but not when it is full of containers like this. Some people saying: just drag it off of the sand. Okay! And what happens when that causes you to rip a hole into the hull of the ship? Now it's real…

As this thread turned into 'post your crazy idea and get told why it would not work' here is my take: use powerful water pumps and direct streams of water to flush out the sand in spots where the ship rests on it and also around the bow.

Something like that, but redirected under the ship: https://youtu.be/BIoBGZLc7wM?t=184

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#383
post #8

~15% of the World's trade is dependent on it and this is taking much longer than expected. Why?

Much longer than expected by whom? Have you seen some scenario planning documentation by canal authorities or others for this sort of situation? Or what are you basing you claim on?

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#384
Why not some large pumps, suck up water from the canal and use jets to blast the sand out from under the bow. Slowly shift the sand around.

Granted they might have to dredge to clear that sand out of the canal.

Surely it's been thought of....

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had the exact same idea but the canal bank is very shallow.. so you would have to build around the whole ship (as you said). This also seems like a major undertaking. I am excited to see how they will solve the problem though!

You might end up getting it stuck higher . Then what?

Then that is tomorrow me's problem!

I honestly think a lot of thinking works that way, where we'll let tomorrow me worry about it. To be fair, a lot of the time it makes sense. The problems a solution creates are things we need to accept when alternative is worse (think global warming vs starvation circa 1770).

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#386
post #165

Comedy option, what wacky cold war era aircraft do we have capable of lifting massive loads like a container ship? Perhaps an enormous fleet of Chinook helicopters could take it straight up?

If I understand [1] properly, the Chinook can lift 13 tons[2]. The Evergiven's maximum weight is 200000 tons. So that would be 15000+ Chinooks lifting it. A sight to behold. Added: Only about 1200 were ever produced, so that won't fly. [1] https://www.army.mil/article/137584/ch_47_chinook_helicopter [2] 26000 pounds

Okay but what about rockets?

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#387
post #39

I don't think people are giving enough credit to how stuck the ship is. Look at some of the photos of the front of it. Look at how far out of the water it is sitting. The ship might look like that if it were totally empty, but not when it is full of containers like this. Some people saying: just drag it off of the sand. Okay! And what happens when that causes you to rip a hole into the hull of the ship? Now it's real…

As this thread turned into 'post your crazy idea and get told why it would not work' here is my take: use powerful water pumps and direct streams of water to flush out the sand in spots where the ship rests on it and also around the bow. Something like that, but redirected under the ship: https://youtu.be/BIoBGZLc7wM?t=184

Or direct pressure up from below to liquefy the sand, quicksand-style.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#388
Just another non-expert, but I wonder if the simplest approach might be to pump water under it to wash away the sand it's beached on.

Googling, it seems that this is a recognised technique for dredging: https://www.iadc-dredging.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/fac... Whether it works might be dependent on what kind of soil its sitting on and whether the current is strong enough to take away the dislodged particles.

I guess it would also be hard to work out exactly what you've removed and hence whether you leaving the ship in a position that will stress its structure too much.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#389
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People think I'm joking but we should bomb it to smithereens. The crater would probably just fill up with the water flow.

What would be the total loss cost of this ship?

less than the cost of the canal being blocked for multiple weeks

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#390
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's really stuck. It's probably going to take a couple of weeks to get it unstuck. My armchair engineering would dump a load of salt into the water to increase buoyancy of the ship long enough for the tugs to get some momentum with less effort than currently. That would be my cheap try solution to help the tugs that have already hit there limit so why not change the physics and add a load of salt.

And how much salt would you need? At least 100kg per m3. Assuming the canal is 250m wide you need a 400m section dammed and average depth is 15m then you need 150 thousand tonnes of salt. Thankfully Egypt produces more than 3 million tonnes of salt per year so just a few weeks worth of production and enough to fill a large bulk carrier ship.

I was thinking a few lorry loads on the edge they are trying to pull, just to give it a kick briefly so the tugs can get that initial momentum going. More of a brief sudden kick/change to give it that edge.

With that I don't think with the whole damming of aspect would be any better than damming of and pumping water in. Also with that scale you run the risk when you breach the dam of causing what I'd call a saline tsuanmi which might not work well for the ships in it's path and may well cause another to get stuck.

So, more a form of quick kick to aid in getting the tugs an initial bite and a quick dislodge, however small, would only help and may well tip the balance.

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