IIt is the story of David and Goliath of our times: one of the largest container ships in the world was trapped in the Suez Canal, blocking a route through which 12% of world trade passes – and sent to rescue it was a very small excavator .
Online, the slow crisis was quickly transformed into a learning experience: memes 101. The general theme was futility: to work in the face of an endless number of things to do; of $ 1,400 stimulus checks in response to the coronavirus pandemic; to drink in the face of the “incessant and overwhelming weight of existence”.
Austin Powers was one of the first references, thanks to a scene in which the British spy tries to make a U-turn in a narrow passage.
Some were able to relate the crisis to their own traffic and parking-induced stress:
I’m glad I decided to take the Panama Canal instead of Suez today
– slick (@dlicj) March 24, 2021
Some turned to poetry:
this is just to say
I have
blocked
the suezwhich you
probably necessary
for international
replacementforgive me
I’m aside
and my ship’s butt
it’s big– Rhiannon Shaw (@rhiannoneshaw) March 24, 2021
my name is boat
and i’m tired
(but shipping was
is still needed)so all i want
it’s a little nap
I turn to the side
I blok the Sooz– Katy / krfabian (@krfabian) March 24, 2021
Others resorted to profanity:
On Wednesday afternoon, the ship was partially refluxed, said GAC, a Dubai-based maritime services company, citing information from the channel’s authority. “Trains and traffic must be resumed as soon as the vessel is towed to another position,” said the company on its website.
But ship broker Braemar told Agence France-Presse that it may take a while for the ship to move. If the tugs are unable to release it, it may be necessary to unload containers to make the ship lighter, which can, said Braemar, “take days, maybe weeks”.