According to media reports, the large ship, which ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23 and caused a massive traffic jam, carried out strange maneuvers before entering the canal, the trajectory of which is very reminiscent of male genitals. We checked to see if this was the case.

In any case, the Ever Given container ship running aground in the Suez Canal can hardly be called ordinary news. Shortly after entering the canal from the Red Sea, the 400-meter vessel lost control amid strong winds. burying his head bow to one bank, and stern to the other. As a result, traffic through the Suez Canal in both directions was completely blocked, leading to a huge traffic jam of hundreds of ships. Considering that eight tugboats are not yet coping with their task well enough to restore traffic may be required several weeks, this has already caused a stir in the oil market. Against the backdrop of supply disruptions, the price of Brent oil rose by 5% on March 24. So this accident is already having global consequences.

However, along with economic news, the media carried another news, funny. According to journalists, before entering the ill-fated canal, the container ship made a series of turns along a trajectory very reminiscent of a human penis. Cases of aircraft pilots choosing a similar route recently not uncommon, however, this is an innovation for sea ships. Questions immediately arose: is this photoshop, and if not, is there a certain meaning behind it?

Journalists from an online publication drew attention to the strange trajectory. Vice News. They referred to data from the VesselFinder service, which tracks the movements of ships. And indeed, the next day after the incident, this service published fast, in which he presented a video of computer simulation of the vessel’s trajectory:

Publication of the trajectory was, if not mandatory, then a desirable formality, because incidents of this kind can lead to multimillion-dollar litigation and any episode of the route before entering the canal can be important. However, in order to dispel suspicions about the joke of the video editors, representatives of Vice News turned to the original source service and received a laconic answer: “There is no room for any conspiracies or false information here.” This information is also confirmed by a map from another resource - My Ship Tracking:

It turns out that “phallic” maneuvers really took place. But was this a deliberate joke or a demonstration of dissatisfaction on the part of the crew? Spiegel Magazine contacted with a representative of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, operator of the Ever Given. He said that “often ships waiting to enter [the canal] move along a winding path,” and called the resulting trajectory “pure coincidence.”

Thus, the Ever Given container ship did indeed follow a route resembling male genitalia, but there is no evidence yet that this was done on purpose. If the trajectory really was random, and the incident that followed soon was in no way connected with these maneuvers, then this should be recognized as a truly amazing coincidence of circumstances.