Memed on the Suez Canal

Abdullah Abdul-Gawad might be the most famous excavator operator on the planet, said Mia Jankowicz in BusinessInsider.com. When the Ever Given container ship became wedged sideways in the Suez Canal last month, the 28-year-old Egyptian was ordered to get in his machine and dig out the mud and rocks encasing the vessel’s bow. A photograph of his David vs. Goliath struggle inspired countless social media memes about futility: One labeled the skyscraper-size ship “The Crushing Despair of Everything From the Past Year” and Abdul-Gawad’s tiny excavator “You, Doing Your Best.” He didn’t find those posts funny. To get global trade flowing again, he worked around the clock in a very dangerous situation. The Ever Given was lodged in the canal bank 20 feet higher than it would naturally float, and Abdul-Gawad feared the 220,000-ton ship might suddenly topple. “If it fell onto its side, then it’s goodbye me, and goodbye excavator.” But the memes also motivated AbdulGawad to keep working. “I wanted the world to say: ‘He did it.’” After six days, tugboats finally pulled the Ever Given free. AbdulGawad is frustrated that he wasn’t included in official celebrations of the feat. But he’s proud of his involvement. “Without an excavator, the ship wouldn’t have gone anywhere. It might still be stuck.”