For the past 10 days, the world’s attention has been drawn to the fate of Ever Given. On March 23, due to high winds and dust storms, the ship lost the ability to sail and move rice in the Suez Canal. The waterway is located in Egypt and connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea. About 10 percent of all world trade flows here, so what impact can you have on the economy and the people who depend on it – even to eliminate the many sailors who were waiting on their ships, including.
Observations from space highlighted how many ships were waiting to continue their voyage. Egyptian authorities and international partners worked hard for six days to free the ship and re-launch the canal. It was a huge undertaking, since Ever Dale was given one of the largest carrier ships in the world. How to remove a 400-meter (1,312-foot) boat from the ground and back into the water requires a lot of physics and precise calculations.
Dredgers removed 850 cubic meters (30,000 cubic feet) of sand from around the ship. Pulls were used to pull the bow (front) of the ship and to straighten the strain – but the ship also needed to be steered on a vertical axis. The strain had to be pushed down and the bow was lifted up and released from the ground. And where the sky comes with the help of a hand: the moon. The moon and sun are responsible for the tide. The combined gravitational pull of our stars and our natural satellites causes the water level around the planet to change. The tides are highest when the moon is united with the sun, so there is a full moon.
The moon is not the same distance from the earth, so the tide is higher when the moon is closer. March 28 was a full moon, and our satellite was closest to Earth. This led to a strong tide on Monday the 29th, when the most powerful tugboat appeared. It was a winning combination: human labor with the help of cosmic alignment.
“We had a lot of help this afternoon due to the strong tide. In fact, the forces of your nature are pushing harder on you and harder than they could pull the two ocean tugs, “said Peter Berdowski, CEO of Boskalis. Memes in Microsoft Flight Simulator and even a model, Ever Given and its unfortunate foundation must be remembered.
