How One of the World’s Biggest Ships Jammed the Suez Canal

Four months after the megaship Ever Given got stuck in the canal, neither the canal nor the shipping industry has addressed some of the most critical issues that led to the grounding.

CAIRO — When the Ever Given — one of the largest container ships ever built, more sideways skyscraper than boat — got stuck in the Suez Canal for six days in March, it dammed up worldwide shipping and froze nearly $10 billion in trade a day. For the internet, it was a bottomlessly amusing spectacle. For global shipping, it was a worst-nightmare lesson in the perils of a new breed of mega-freighter operating in tight spaces. It was, said Richard Meade, the editor in chief of Lloyd’s List, a maritime intelligence publication, “a wake-up call” for the shipping industry.