Ever Given is a container ship, 1,300 feet (400 meters) from bow to stern.
On March 23, 2021, it was sailing from Malaysia to the Netherlands with about 17,600 brightly colored containers.
That morning a strong wind, over 46 mph (74 km/h), shoved it off course in the Suez Canal.
The ship lost the ability to steer.
Its bow stuck on one bank. Its stern stuck on the other. The canal was blocked on a diagonal.
Traffic in both directions stopped for six days. Hundreds of ships lined up behind it. Goods moving between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East were tied up at an estimated $9.6 billion a day.
Crews dug silt from under the hull and pulled with tugs from Egypt, the Netherlands, and Italy.
What finally broke it free?
A high spring tide. The hull lifted off the bottom first, but the bow still held the bank. Then the bow came free too.
And that length?
That is almost as long as four American football fields set end to end.
One hull stopped a route that carries world trade.
The delivery schedule waited on one tide.
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