My husband and I have done two international moves with all of our worldly possessions packed into a shipping container and sent across the ocean. Each time it’s happened, I’ve had the app on my phone to track the ship to see where it was. My biggest fear was my container going overboard (more common than you’d think!)…

Yes, I am more aware than you think. I’ve worked on ships with guys like these. I know that working on a ship pays many multiples of what most of the jobs that they could get at home. I’m not saying that they should, on their own, abandon the ship, but if the company is abandoning the ship, the company should make…

How do you expect to dump containers?  The ship isn't equipped with a crane.

“the owners of the Ever Given, Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd and the operators of the ship, a German company called Bernhard Schulte.”

“the honorable thing would be for the crew to scuttle the Ever Given”

In the book, the US Navy sank an older American boomer to cover up the Red October’s defection. An Alfa (the same one that was sunk in the movie) attacked the Red October and was rammed and sunk.

The ship’s captain is always in charge and always responsible for the ship.  The canal pilot provides advice as to how to navigate.  The captain does not have to take the pilot’s advice.  All the pilots are Egyptian citizens. Egyptians tried to blame the only female pilot in the fleet, but she wasn’t on the vessel.  

Oh, such american naivete. If the Ever Given starts its engines, and the boat starts moving, there will be armed Egyptian marines dropped in with orders to kill the “pirates” aboard who have hijacked the boat.

Ah, an importer/exporter, huh? You should collaborate with my man, Costanza. He’s been in the game about 25 years. 

I haven’t read the book, but in the movie, the Red October being scuttled was faked by Ramius and the officers on board.  The boat that was blown up was another Russian sub that the crew didn’t know about.  So yes, the US got the Red October because Ramius defected.

I mean, get nothing for the last few months, Vs get nothing for the next 4 years?

They’ve been reclassified as leather and glue.

but I also know some people use such containers to transport personal belongings, such as when you move between continents,

I import to the USA often and use sea containers. They are adding a $2000. surcharge for every container used on top of the normal fee. Before this past years cluster fuck and the Suez fiasco i could buy a 20' for $2000. delivered. My lead times have gone from 65 days to at least over 90 if they have containers and if…

I have a feeling the bridge crew were allowed to leave and return home; it’s the ships mates that are stuck.

Couple rubber boats from your fellow Evergreen shipping buddies in the middle of the night and crew would be off and nobody the wiser until the next day

Panama is more like Delaware for corporations (Ireland if you’re in Europe). It’s basically just a tax shelter and makes money off people who don’t actually do business there pretending it’s where they’re based.

They can do it, I just know they have the juice to get these guys freed. They can call up Egypt and be all like “You’ve got a canal, we’ve got a canal, we’re canal habibis, what’s it gonna take to iron this out?”

Panama could not care less what happens to the ship or its crew. The owners/operators are just using Panama as a flag of convenience for the country’s favorable maritime crewing and tax laws.

Surely the government of Panama can wade into this fray and throw its international weight around a bit, right?