The ship blocking the Suez Canal is called Ever Given, even though 'Evergreen' is written across it in huge letters

A massive container ship is still stuck in Egypt's Suez Canal, blocking the international trade route and halting global shipping operations.

At least seven tug boats and a large number of people are working to free the vessel.

The sheer size of the ship is a problem in itself, but wind conditions are also hampering the efforts to clear the busy shipping route and allow dozens of other vessels to continue their own journeys. 

Shipping experts say that if the blockage isn't clear in the next 24 to 48 hours, some shipping firms may be forced to re-route vessels around the southern tip of Africa, adding roughly a week to their time in transit. 

We've all had a good laugh and made jokes about multiple-point turns, but there's more to the story. 

Evergreen is not its name

Yes, we can read those massive letters on the side of the ship. 

Yes, we know that it says "Evergreen" and not "Ever Given". 

Evergreen is the name of the shipping company that leases the ship. The vessel itself is called Ever Given. 

Evergreen Marine, a Taiwanese cargo and freight business, has many, many ships. 

Ever Given is one of 20 container ships in Evergreen's fleet and is named in the company's "Ever" + "G-word" format. There's also an Ever Gentle, an Ever Gleamy, an Ever Genius … you get the gist. 

There's also an Ever Going, which would have been a more ironic name for the ship currently preventing anything going through up the Suez.

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How did it get stuck?

It turns out strong winds, dust storms and massive ships don't mix.

The Suez Canal Authority said in a statement that the Ever Given ran aground diagonally after losing the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm. 

A statement from Evergreen Marine said it was told the ship "was suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate from [the] waterway and accidentally hit the bottom".

Local weather reports said a sandstorm hit the region on Tuesday, with winds gusting as much as 50 kilometres per hour.

Can it just reverse out the way it came?

This isn't an old Toyota Camry and the captain isn't a teenage driver on their P-plates, people. 

The ship ran aground and is now wedged pretty firmly into the banks of the canal, with the bow touching the eastern wall and the stern lodged against the western wall.

So it needs to be refloated first. 

That now world-famous Instagram photo from Julianne Cona showed a backhoe digging into the sandbank under its bow in an effort to free the ship.

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It's unclear how long digging it out could take, as experts reckon nothing like this has ever happened in the canal's 150-year history. 

But one official said it could take at least two days to refloat the vessel.

When it is refloated, it's likely that it will reverse back the way it came, authorities say. 

Transit service provider Leth Agencies said the ships already behind the Ever Given in the canal would have to be reversed south back to Port Suez to free up the channel.

The task isn't helped by the fact that the ship is loaded with heavy cargo — and it's not as simple as just unpacking it and setting it aside. 

An Egyptian canal authority official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said workers hoped to avoid offloading containers from the vessel, as it would take days to do so.

So can ships just go another way?

Yep, but it's a long journey. 

Instead of taking the Suez Canal shortcut, they'll have to navigate around Africa, adding about 15 days to their trip. 

The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and is a crucial route from Europe to the Indian and western Pacific oceans.

At the moment dozens of ships are stuck in lakes in the middle of the canal and in anchorage areas on either side of where the Ever Given is stuck, and dozens more are waiting at both ends of the waterway waiting for it to clear. 

All up there are well over 100 very large ships — some of which may be close to their destination, while others may have only just set sail — sitting around waiting to get through this one channel and deliver their cargo.

Last year nearly 19,000 ships passed through the canal, which is an average of 51.5 each day.

So it's not a great situation. 

Niels Madsen from Denmark-based company Sea-Intelligence said if Ever Given was stuck for two days: "The impact will be limited to a gradual worsening of already very bad vessel delays."

"If, on the other hand, the Suez Canal remains blocked for another three to five days, then this will start to have very serious global ramifications," he said.

It's already been close to two days, and it's still stuck fast — so the Suez Canal Authority has decided to temporarily suspend traffic while the tug boats do their thing.

Could this cost them?

Big time. 

Industry experts reckon the ship's owner and its insurers face millions of dollars in claims even if the vessel is refloated quickly.

The ship's owners, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, could face claims from the Suez Canal Authority for loss of revenue as well as from other shipping companies who have had their passage through the waterway disrupted.

Shoei Kisen Kaisha, a Japanese company, offered a written apology on Thursday. 

"We would like to apologise to all parties affected by this incident, including the ships travelling and planning to travel through Suez Canal," it said in a statement. 

"We are determined to keep on working hard to resolve this situation as soon as possible."

On top of this, owners of the cargo on board Ever Given and on other ships stuck in the canal may seek compensation for losses to perishable goods or missed delivery deadlines.

We're talking billions of dollars worth of cargo here, with over 100 ships unable to complete their routes.

Container ships of this size are usually insured for hull and machinery damage of $100 and $140 million.

But at least we have the memes

So, yes, there are shipping delays and major economic implications from an incident of this magnitude, but at least we have gotten a few laughs out of it. 

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ABC with wires