- Good one on container ship stuck in Suez canal by MoA Archived Message
Posted by Tomski
on March 25, 2021, 10:09 pm
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https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/03/stuck-in-mud.html#comments Stuck In Mud I am feeling a bit like the operator of that excavator. There is too much to do and too little motivating progress. Those are 200,000 metric tons stuck in sand and gravel on both ends. Too much weight for the usual tugs to pull it off.  They will probably have to lighten the ship and dredge the sand at both end . That may well take several days or weeks. These swimming walls are now too big. They are difficult to maneuver. With this height of the load the slightest gust of wind will move the ship in unintended ways. There was a sand storm in the area when this one got stuck. Unless a crew is extremely attentive and immediately uses the bow and rear thrusters any gust will push it off course. Add the bank effect which sucks the ship towards the canal walls and such an outcome is inevitable. Brendan Greeley @bhgreeley - 12:40 UTC · Mar 25, 2021 Water moves differently around a boat in a tight canal than it does in the open ocean. When water gets squeezed between the hull and the sand, the water accelerates, and its pressure drops /2 When the hull gets too close to the bank, the pressure drop sucks the hull in to the bank. This is called the "bank effect." In shallow water, like in the Suez, the stern moves toward the bank, but the bow moves away. The boat spins. /3 The bigger the hull, the more water it displaces, the stronger the effect. The closer the hull is to the bank, the stronger the effect. So big, wide boat = strong bank effect. And container ships are getting HUGE. /4 Etc. |
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