Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is that ship still stuck?

istheshipstillstuck.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 1001 posts

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#491

Post by _ph_ »

Arrath wrote: post #219
lamontcg wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just let the air out of the tires, simple.

Just bring in a Bagger 288[1] and use it to excavate a new diversion canal in front of the ship long enough to get it out of the main canal, bada-bing bada-boom. Simple! [1]Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azEvfD4C6ow

That beast is really outstanding and would probably be able to do the job in reasonable time. This machine is so insanely large, it would fit into any sci-fi movie. The craziest thing is, some years back it was driven over a distance of 22 kilometers cross country to a different site, which was just mindblowing.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#492

Post by tzs »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #68

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?

The best comedy approach is to hire Planet Express to fly in a giant can of WD-40. That stuff will get anything unstuck.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#493

Post by [deleted] »

BrianOnHN wrote: post #458
ajb wrote: post #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…

Can someone explain why dredging alone isn't sufficient? Is it too slow?

[deleted]

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#494

Post by suzzer99 »

kevinsundar wrote: post #430
blhack wrote: 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…

I wonder, could you liquify the soil around the buried part of the ship by pumping air into the surrounding areas? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_liquefaction

Now that is an interesting idea.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#495

Post by ajb »

BrianOnHN wrote: post #458
ajb wrote: post #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…

Can someone explain why dredging alone isn't sufficient? Is it too slow?

Are dredges normally expected to access underneath a ship? I thought under the typical use cases they have a clear work area.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#496

Post by dghlsakjg »

terramex wrote: post #381
blhack wrote: 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

This is the comment that proves the rule!

This is such a good idea that it actually exists and works.

Look up water injection dredging.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#497

Post by davesque »

jacob2484 wrote: post #456

Quite the arrogance here of mostly software devs trying to out -solutionize marine/shipping experts who undoubtedly have been consulted and are already looking for the quickest way to resolve the situation. With billions of dollars in stake, I'm sure even the most expensive experts are involved.

Maybe people just find it to be an interesting problem and are having fun thinking out loud about it.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#498

Post by suzzer99 »

nabla9 wrote: post #263
blhack wrote: 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…

Lloyd's List estimated that every day Suez is closed costs US$9 billion ($400 million per hour). If it could be done technically and open up the canal, it would be cheaper for insurance companies to buy the ship, it's cargo, buy all nearby property and then blow the whole ship up.

It makes you wonder if anyone has an old aircraft carrier they'd be willing to use as a battering ram. Try to hit it towards the bow to dislodge it.

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#499

Post by samuell »

blhack wrote: 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…

There are helicopters that I think can be used for (un)loading containers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-64_Skycrane

Re: Is that ship still stuck?

#500

Post by kortex »

mmcconnell1618 wrote: post #393

Don't earthquakes cause liquefaction? Any possibility that you could introduce enough energy (possibly sound) in the correct frequency to make the sand act liquid enough that you could rotate the ship until it is free?

I was thinking the same. Get lots of pumps in, drill into the sand bar and pump water to fluidize it. But it's probably still a scale thing, all the proportions involved in this problem are ludicrous.
Post reply on HN