I read that there aren't any tall enough cranes in that area to do it, so they're considering unloading some containers by helicopter.

Even if you could unload a container per minute you could only unload less than 1000 containers per day (assuming it's too dangerous to work at night) so at least 3 weeks of continuous helicopter operations.

Yes, that's true. It still might be faster than other options. You wouldn't likely need to unload the whole thing though, just lighten it enough to get it unstuck.

Doubt that's the case. The weight on it currently forced it deep enough into the sand. Just unloading half of it won't make it magically raise from the sands. The analogy here would be like saying pumping out Whale's stomach will make it possible to drag him back deep into the ocean.

Even though the vessel sits on sand, it still displaces a lot of water, which reduces the force of it sitting on the sand by a lot. Removing cargo, fuel, and dredging reduces it yet more.

Its most likely irrelevant. The reason why you see front so high up is because all the vessel's weight forced and smashed itself against the shallow water. At this point, rather than not the fuselage is damaged, and attempt to "ease up" the weight could only make it worse. I have been working enough around cargo vessels and at this size its never "oh he hit something, just put in reverse and you good to go". Similar if you ever get stabbed with a knife - hope never - but if you will, do not attempt to remove it on your own - you need to see a specialist who knows how to remove object it without causing internal bleeding, etc.

This vessel is most likely trash at this point. Time is of essence because tidal is pushing it against shallows and since its not perfectly centered it will eventually tip and with these amount of weight, not much tipping required for the whole thing to snawball. At this time they are figuring out how to quickly remove (save) as many containers as possible. Most likely will happen with another of these monsters to "park" close by and one by one will move the most expensive cargo first.

Another option I got from my buddy who is doing this stuff for life, is suggestion to dig up a whole big enough underneath to actually sunk the whole thing. This can be done in less than one week and is fastest most "stable" option. At this point they are not looking at saving this one vessel, but rather how to get the canal to operate again asap. You probably know it from driving on highway "move aside accident vehicles" is the most important thing to do.

Seems this, in retrospect, was alarmist and incorrect. Dredging and pumping out ballast/bilges worked.

We'll see. Right now it seems the plan is to dredge, and supplement that with partial unloading of the vessel.

But a few days of operations, and unloading ballast/fuel, and dredging, and other efforts to refloat may be successful together.

Hm. I live in Long Beach and those guys are definitely used to working at night

In helicopters? That's the tricky part.

… in helicopters, in the desert without the infrastructure of a major harbor, no less!

3 weeks of continuous helicopter operations for what? Ship doesn't need to be empty.

Plus a couple of weeks to get the cranes there, I guess.

that "just" is doing even more work than the guy in the digger.

Maybe. That's a lot of barges. Remember that you then have to go and unload the barges, and there are 20,000 containers.

> That's a lot of barges.

Maybe bring another Evergreen ship there and move containers onto it...?

20,000 TEU, not containers.

TEU being Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, and containers generally are either 20ft or 40ft long.

You can see from pictures that most of the containers are 40 foot ones. Also, the ship doesn't appear to be at full capacity to me. See https://imgur.com/a/b8neNkR (top is as full a picture as I could find, bottom is current). My guess is ~6000 40 foot containers in its current state.

What's the difference, for purposes of estimating workload?

Containers are 1 or 2 TEUs, although doubles are more common for long distance, so you're probably looking at 10,000-ish containers.

Is there a reason they couldn't have a smaller crane on board and dump them over the side. Surely even losing the cargo would be cheaper than keeping it blocked at this point?

If you dump the containers over the side, you managed to remove a ship blocking the canal, but now it's blocked by containers.

Right, but you don't need to leave them there. If it's limited depth you could pull them away with barges.

How long do you think it takes to fish a 20 ton container up from the bottom of a canal and load it onto a barge? There are ~10,000 containers.

Barge? Pull it over the edge and worry about it later.

Depending on contents, some might float very well. Or even dissolve away. My dollar store salt-shakers (with salt) came from vietnam.

The top will be the lightest containers, so I’m guessing that’s where your 40 footer of ping pong balls is sitting.

Yes - that's kind of what I had in mind when I first suggested it. When containers fall of ships they often wash ashore on the UK coast. Even a container of motorbikes arrived in Cornwall recently... I'm presuming that only happens because they have some natural bouyancy.

If they don't tear when they hit the water (the metal is pretty thin) they should float shouldn't they? At 77 cubic meters and 30 tonnes their density is low enough, and they're generally watertight aren't they?

Tie heavy duty straps with a small float attached to it before you dump it over the side, then use a tug to pull it away.

I think you're severely overestimating the depth of the canal. I'm too lazy to look up the depth of the specific section where it's stuck, but some sections are just 20 something meters deep.

In other words, just deep enough for ships to come through with little wiggle room. Not as tight as the Panama Canal, but it's not much bigger.

Dumping things over the side, into the canal? That would rapidly block up the canal even worse.

The canal is only 24m deep.... one or two containers would essentially block it for most traffic.

Nature loves you!