Categories: Digital LifeNews

Think you’re a better captain? This site lets you steer a huge ship through the Suez Canal

Yup, you heard it right. You can try “steering” a huge ship on a small part of the Suez Canal online through CNN’s new interactive feature—and it’s a lot harder than you’d think it would be.

CNN released the “game” on their site on 30th March to give players a taste of what happened with the Ever Given—which became stuck sideways in the Suez Canal after a severe dust storm on 23 March. There was a long struggle to push the ship back on course, causing a six-day blockage of ships passing through.

Me being an average citizen and not a big-time ship captain, there was no way for me to know what it’s even like steering the actual Ever Given. But I would think it should not be that hard to not crash so badly, but boy was I wrong.

On CNN’s interactive feature, it states that the Suez Canal is a “high-stress, complicated feat that requires master piloting skills”. According to the page, CNN also worked with Master Mariner Andy Winbow and Captain Yash Gupta to produce the game.

However, they stress that the feature is “non-scientific” and it is merely an interactive experience for illustrative purposes only. It also says that there are “many factors that have not been accounted for” like depth of water, proximity to the banks, interaction with passing ships, the turning circle, availability of tug boats and other weather conditions”.

While these other factors aren’t at play, there were a lot of factors that were took into consideration. They included wind direction, wind speed, the boat’s power and the rudder’s angle.

The experience itself was still pretty stressful to play with. I was trying so hard not to crash and it needed every little bit of my attention to get the boat from point A to point B.

I was also surprised at how narrow the Suez Canal is, but that’s probably also because of how big the boat is in relation. The Ever Given is 400 meters long and is among the largest 1% of the world’s fleet.

If you made it pass that small bit of the Suez Canal, you get a “congratulations”, with a note sating you’ve simulated just about 4% of the Canal. If you crash, it’s not that big of a deal—because you get to try again and also because it’s not a real situation you’re in.

The experience definitely did open my eyes about how severe the situation was, and it wasn’t really to do with how bad the steerer was. You can try the feature yourself, and let me know how hard or easy it is for you to steer the boat.

[ SOURCE ]

Related reading

Recent Posts

ChargEV deploys 400kW DC Charger at The Starling Mall

ChargEV has just deployed the largest EV fast charging hub at Damansara Uptown. Located near…

10 hours ago

It’s time to future-proof your home. Here’s why you need hyperspeed fibre internet with FTTR

Malaysians are spoilt for choice when it comes to ultra-high-speed broadband. While it is easy…

11 hours ago

Spotify Premium reduces family account from 6 to 4. But what about existing users?

If you're planning to subscribe to Spotify Premium for your family, take note that the…

13 hours ago

Deal: CapCut Pro now offered with 70% discount, with extra free subscription up to 1 year

If you're a content creator who rely on CapCut a lot to edit your TikTok…

15 hours ago

Hotlink finally offers eSIM for Postpaid and Prepaid

More than 5 years since Maxis introduced eSIM for its postpaid customers, the embedded SIM…

17 hours ago

Malaysians can travel to China without a Visa for 30 days starting 30 November

Mainland China has revised its visa waiver for Malaysian visitors and they have extended the…

19 hours ago

This website uses cookies.