The Microsoft Flight Simulator modding community has added to its map the "Ever Given," the ship trapped in the Suez Canal.
The mod, added March 29, already has hundreds of downloads and shows the "Ever Given" container ship in its diagonal position, stretching across the canal. The scene is realistic.
Flight Simulator, Microsoft's longest-running product franchise, returned with its latest release in August. The game uses technological advancements including Bing Maps' global imagery and the Microsoft Azure cloud network as well as artificial intelligence technology that allows live traffic and real-time weather.
The featured 220,000-ton ship in Flight Simulator is causing disruptions in the worldwide supply chain. Experts estimate that $3 billion to $9.6 billion in goods are either trapped or delayed in transit as a result of the "Ever Given's" problems, according to Agence France-Presse. That includes livestock on at least 20 ships, The Guardian.
Tugboats successfully refloated the Ever Given at 5:45 a.m. local time Monday. The tugs dislodged the bow of the 1,300-foot ship from the canal banks, according to Osama Rabie, chairperson of the Suez Canal Authority. He confirmed the tugs would continue Monday so the ship might move under its own power through the rest of the Suez Canal.
"It is good news," he said. "We are not finished yet, but it has moved."
After five days and nights of operating on both land and water, rescue teams were aided by moon tides.
According to officials, as water levels rose overnight, the hours spent digging and excavating millions of tons of soil around the Ever Given paid off as the ship gradually regained buoyancy.
While shipping officials and Egyptian authorities cautioned that the complicated operation was still in progress, they were growing in confidence the ship would be free soon.
