Six days in Suez: the inside story of the ship that broke global trade

© Cnes 2021, Distribution Airbus DS.

Absolutely brilliant account of the grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal, from Bloomberg Businessweek, featuring a blow-by-blow retelling of the hours and minutes leading up to the casualty, and the subsequent arrest of the vessel and court hearings. Based on interviews with key protagonists and forensic examination of the court transcripts in Ismailia, it heavily implies that much of the blame for the grounding is likely – unofficially at least – to be laid at the feet of the Suez Canal pilots. “Although no footage of the incident has been made public, the final few seconds would have unfolded with the horrible slowness of a collapsing building — a gigantic object surrendering to invisible forces. According to a person familiar with the VDR audio, Captain Kanthavel reacted as anyone might in the same situation: “Shit!” he screamed.”