The paper analyzes the causes of the accident that took place on March 23, 2021 at 101 kilometers of the Suez Canal with the supercontainer ship “Ever Given”. The vessel lost control at the narrowest point of the transoceanic corridor. According to various sources, the possible cause of the accident was weather conditions. At the moment of passing through the Suez Canal, the vessel got into the area of a sandstorm with the increased wind speed and poor visibility. Sandstorms are frequent in the area. To avoid similar accidents, a quantitative analysis was performed to determine its causes. The analysis was undertaken based on solving the system of equations for mathematical model of a container ship with similar characteristics. The calculation was carried out according to well-proven methods with the involvement of databases for determining the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic characteristics. It has been established that a vessel with wind exposed area typical for vessels of the “Ever Given” type cannot be steered at wind speeds exceeding 12 m/s. In addition, a significant effect of the density of the air-dust mixture on the controllability of the vessel has been found. In the presence of an admixture of sand in the air, the vessel can lose controllability even at 9 m/s.
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