On [[March 23rd, 2021]] a container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal and stopped trade between Europe and Asia, it is still stuck
The explanation given was that it was met with a sudden gust of strong wind
But that is not the sole reason - big ships behaves differently and we are still trying to understand it
In a canal, when a large boat moves through it, the water that it displaces has no where to go underneath so it can only be squeezed between the ship's hull and the floor and the sides of the canal
This causes the ship to squat, when the stern digs into the water and the bow comes up as the water gets squeezed, it speeds up, creating a vacuum at the front
#til2021 Bank Effect
When a ship passes close to a bank, the water between the ship and bank speeds up. When the speed increases, the pressure drops, which causes the stern to be pulled into the bank and bow to be pushed away from the bank
The more water the ship displaces, the stronger this effect
The closer to the bank, the stronger this effect
With ships getting larger and larger, we are only starting to understand how they will behave in confined spaces like the Suez Canal
So when the wind picked up while the ship was passing the canal, it was steering into the wind to maintain its direction
But the wind suddenly died down and the ship over adjusted into the bank creating a large bank effect that caused the ship crash into the wall