The Suez Canal blockage is now a popular attraction in Flight Simulator

The obstruction of the Suez Canal by a massive container ship, the Ever Given, has been making the news over the last few days. The incident seems to be close to a resolution at this point, but the sight of such a huge ship stuck in the canal, together with the hundreds of other ships in queue waiting for the situation to be resolved, has garnered a lot of attention on the media and social networks. Now, the blockage has come to Flight Simulator, where you can appreciate the caos from above!

As usual, the Flight Simulator community didn’t take long to jump on the opportunity to add some interest to the Suez Canal in MSFS. First by the simple addition of a stuck boat, created by Zepingouin35. Then, by the more accomplished recreation by FlyBoyRez1, who was inspired by the first and made use of the excellent Global AI Ship Traffic mod in order to place the huge ship blocking the canal and creating the big queues with the other ships.

The result is arguably the most popular attraction right now in Flight Simulator. Upon installing the mods, fly to the location and you’ll be presented with the drama in all its scale: hundreds of stagnant boats and a single, massive container ship stuck across the canal. If flying in multiplayer you will see many other pilots doing the same thing as you. There’s even a nice landing spot very close to the ship, where you can land and see the spectacle from up close.

There’s one caveat though. It’s not exactly the Ever Given that got stuck here… since there’s no 3d model of that actual ship, the creator decided to put there a similar one from the Global AI Ship Traffic mod. Not from Evergreen, but from China Shipping Line. Just a small detail on an otherwise very impressive mise-en-scène.

In the end, Flight Simulator proves its worth as a virtual tourism solution in these times of a pandemic. Real-world travel may be restricted, by in MSFS you can go anywhere!