Hacker News Reader

Comment by foobarbazetc | Hacker News Reader

There’s a time lapse video of a Suez Canal transit on a container ship here: https://youtu.be/L0J-VIvKLsc

Here is one that shows just how bad the visibility can get: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWF7A9Ujr3w

All of the buoys are fitted with radar reflectors. Since all vessels transiting the canal have to have pilots, I wouldn't think visibility would be that big of a deal when they can see the buoys with radar.

According to TFA the pilots managed to crash one boat into a harbor wall and ground another with perfect visibility.

I don't think that would improve with worse visibility.

Wow. I thought driving a car in fog was terrible. This is absolutely terrifying.

They do have radar, AIS, and an electronic chart on which their position and the position of the buoys is plotted, as well as the other ships (via AIS). And a pilot on board who is very familiar with the area. All of that helps a lot, and in some ways it's probably better than driving a car in that fog. But yes, it's still terrifying.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. Something strange I noticed, it seems they are not meeting any other ships going the other way? Is there separate locations where boats are waiting before they continue?

Second note is that it's easy to notice how windy it is and how easy it would be to get stuck in the side if you're not paying 100% attention. At many points in the video you can see the ship it's filmed from pointing in one way, but actually travel a different way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a3hLZJZmlI is another time lapse, with a bit more explanation of what's happening. Around 3:21 they're on the Great Bitter Lake, where the northbound convoy passes the southbound convoy.

Yes, the cut canals are one way at a time, with passing in the Great Bitter Lake.

For some of the canal north of the lake, there are two channels and ships go both ways, one in each channel: https://zoom.earth/#view=30.510825,32.344757,16z/layers=esri

Reply on news.ycombinator.com