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- Two days after it got stuck, blocking the Suez Canal, the Ever Given remains stationary on Thursday.
- Refloating the boat is proving to be a challenge considering the ship's massive size.
- If stood vertically, the Ever Given would be larger than New York's Empire State Building.
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More than 48 hours after a dust storm beached the "Ever Given" container ship across the Suez Canal in Egypt, crews and tugboats are still working to unclog one of the world's key trading routes. Perhaps one of the most pressing issues with the vessel is its absolutely gargantuan size: At 1,300 feet long, the ship is slightly larger than New York City's Empire State Building.
If placed vertically, the Ever Given would be the 37th tallest building on the planet, according to a list of the tallest buildings in the world by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The largest military aircraft carriers in the world are colloquially known as "floating cities," but the Ever Given even surpasses them in length and width.
At its widest, the Suez Canal is only 738 feet long, preventing the boat from even being able to turn around within the narrow aquatic boundaries. Satellite images taken of the Ever Given on Thursday morning put the boat's size into perspective, showing the ship splayed out diagonally across the canal and preventing any boats from passing by.
-Airbus Space (@AirbusSpace) March 25, 2021
According to a recent Insider report, it may take weeks to dislodge the Ever Given which would potentially force other ships to take a 15,000-mile detour around the southern tip of Africa to reach their destinations.
An engineer aboard the Maersk Denver, an American container ship, shared one of the first photos of the Suez Canal blockage with the world on Instagram.
The Maersk Denver was positioned directly behind the Ever Given for over a day as crews attempted to rescue the Netherlands-bound boat, but a live map of the region from VesselFinder shows the ship recently turned around to find a different route.