Had the 400-metre-long, 200,000-ton Ever Given not blundered into the eastern bank of the Suez Canal – and the headlines of the world’s news outlets – last month, it would have been due to arrive at the British port of Felixstowe on 6 April. Instead it is anchored in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake, a body of water part of the way along the canal, undergoing safety inspections that will determine whether it can set sail without becoming a meme again.
But while the internet has had its fun with pictures of a tiny little digger trying to refloat a boat the size of the Empire State Building, the global disruption of shipping could continue for months to come.
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