The Big Take

Six Days in Suez: The Inside Story of the Ship That Broke Global Trade

How the Ever Given and its billion-dollar cargo got stuck, got free, got impounded, and got taken to court.

The Inside Story of the Ship That Broke Global Trade

Captain Krishnan Kanthavel watched the sun rise over the Red Sea through a dusty haze. Winds of more than 40 mph, whipping off the Egyptian desert, had turned the sky an anemic yellow. From his viewpoint on the bridge, it was just possible to see the dark outlines of the 19 other vessels anchored in Suez Bay, waiting for their turn to enter the narrow channel snaking inland toward the Mediterranean.