Meme parade: How the Ever Given kept the world in suspense 3 years ago
In 2021, Ever Given paralysed the Suez Canal. This inspired numerous creative people to create funny memes that flooded the internet during the blockade. You can see ten of them in this article.
On 23 March 2021, it happened: the 400-metre-long container ship Ever Given ran its bow into the sandy right bank of the Suez Canal. It lay across the fairway, blocking the passage of hundreds of other ships through one of the world's most important waterways.
What was increasingly becoming a problem for the global economy was highly entertaining for social media users. A veritable storm of memes poked fun at the incident. The three-year anniversary is reason enough to revisit some of the best memes.
The channel is closed
Nothing worked at all: a single ship caused long tailbacks and paralysed entire supply chains. And without any damage to the freighter or injuries to people. So it's perfectly legitimate to make memes about the incident.
From outer space: Little Upsi
This is encouraging: no matter what mistake you make - at least you can't see it from space. Or at least from an aeroplane perspective.
Boromir knew it
Of course, meme veteran Boromir from the Lord of the Rings trilogy should not be missing. His saying "One does not simply walk into Mordor" has been an integral part of the meme world for two decades. One does not simply park in the Suez Canal - we now know that for sure.
Austin Powers led the way
If you've seen the film series "Austin Powers", you may be familiar with this situation. It can be transferred almost one-to-one to Ever Given on the channel
Meta level
There's a story behind everything. Someone here has probably spent too much time on X (formerly Twitter) looking for new ever-given memes.
Ideas to unblock the channel
Of course, the meme world also had some excellent ideas on how to unblock the channel. Here are some practical tips from everyday life in the event of another channel blockage
Kick free
Probably the simplest solution: Chuck Norris and his roundhouse kick will do the trick. After all, there's nothing Chuck Norris can't do.
Building a pyramid
The Suez Canal runs through Egypt. The obvious thing to do is to stack the ship's containers to form a new pyramid.
Home improvement solutions
Or has anyone ever tried penetrating oil? After all, it usually solves everything else.
Bridging
This solution looks a little abstract: a large ramp over the Ever Given. Other ships can simply take a run-up and fly over it elegantly like a bird.
The excavator metaphor
The reality was more mundane. A picture of a single dredger, tiny in comparison to the ship, became the inspiration for numerous other memes. One of them also works really well on a meta level:
Experts try unsuccessfully to explain to millions of know-it-alls why steering a giant ship through a narrow channel is complex - a thankless task.
Do it better yourself
Try it out: you can take the wheel of a container ship yourself on this website and try to navigate the Suez Canal without an accident. However, according to the supplier, the simulation is not scientific. You can only influence the speed of your barge and the rudder position.
Be honest: how often do you block the canal yourself?
Sail in peace, Ever Given!
After around six days, the spook was over and the Ever Given bobbed off into the metaphorical sunset. A few billion dollars in economic damage remained, but for the internet, it was a good time!
Is the ship still stuck?
By the way, for anyone wondering where the Ever Given is now: the website istheshipstillstuck.com shows a map showing the current position of the container ship. At the time of the blockade, it was possible to find out here whether the Ever Given was still blocking the canal and, if so, for how many days, hours and minutes.
Do you know any other good memes about the Ever Given case? Then send them in!
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Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.