[Magnum44]

With large vessels, the canal is only wide enough to have ships going one way at a time. If I recall correctly, there were one or two places where it widened up enough to pass opposite directions, like a train track splitting then coming back together.

As posted earlier, most, and certainly all large, vessels passing through the canal, are not on their own power, but guided by tugs, and with a canal 'pilot' coordinating ship steering with tug operation.

Steering any vessel in constrained waters is an art. Add in some wind and its a challenge. Look at inexperienced boaters trying to load their Nautique Ski craft onto their boat trailer in a wind without rubbing up against the trailer or dock and marking up the hull. The slower you move the harder to maintain a heading. Now amplify that by about 3 or 4 orders of magnitude with a capitol ship hull with a very high cross section to the wind.

[freepersup]

I pilot a ferry boat 6 months out of the year up in the Sierras on a mountain lake, and the weather is always a factor- good or bad. Usually, the hairiest conditions are when the vessel is empty in a crosswind, complicated by a strong snowmelt-fed current, dumping into the docking area.

Taking into consideration the enormous scale of things, the ship is going to need the weather’s cooperation, seeing how weather was the culprit in the first place.

With the enormous financial pressure’s building, I imagine that dredgers are being rushed to the scene and mancamps are being set up to handle a massive logistical response, something on the order of FEMA turning out for a hurricane or a tornado outbreak.

One minor housekeeping chore- put the captain on suicide watch.