A large container vessel, about equal in length to the height of New York's Empire State Building, ran aground in a lengthwise position and blocked the Suez Canal on Tuesday morning.
So far, efforts to refloat the MV Ever Given carrying hundreds of containers have been unsuccessful.
The incident is causing major delays to normal cargo flows estimated at $400 million an hour in trade.
But what has social media buzzing over the bottomed-out cargo ship on the manmade waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea is the apparent NSFW pattern of the ship's route as it traveled from China to Rotterdam.
When looking at the GPS data through images and online video provided by the live boat tracking websites Vessel Finder and MyShipTracking.com, the Ever Given's route resembled that of a penis – testicles and all.
Disinformation researcher John Scott-Railton insisted the phallic route was "innocent, but terrible luck."
Vessel Finder provided a simulation of the Ever Given's nautical track in a YouTube video in which they claimed, "the obvious is not always true!"
The vessel-tracking website explained "the purpose of the video simulation is to show that the obvious is not always true concerning the controversial figure outlined by the track of the ship, which could be seen at the end of the video."
"Without this video, many people would think that the track of the ship (the data used to draw the track) is fake, but when viewed retrospectively, it seems that the figure is just a coincidence (or not?)."
Controversial track of the container ship Ever Given that blocked Suez Canalyoutu.be
But Twitter opted to see what they wanted to see and stuck to it.
Shipping agent GAC said the Ever Given suffered a "black out," referring to a major power failure that caused the cargo vessel to come to a complete standstill.
Jon Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation, expressed concern:
"Many companies continue to struggle with supply chain congestion and delays stemming from the pandemic. There is no doubt the delays will ripple through the supply chain and cause additional challenges."
Hopefully, there will be a quick and efficient method for the Ever Green to successfully pull out.
