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What it's really like steering the world's biggest ships - CNN
The emergency stop is a familiar maneuver for most motorists. A hazard presents itself in front of the moving vehicle, the driver hits the brakes and grips the steering wheel, the car screeches to a halt, hopefully under full control.
But what happens when the vehicle you're driving is the size of a small city and doesn't actually come equipped with brakes?
That's the scenario facing those at the helms of the hundreds of gigantic container and cruise ships in our seas and waterways.
The maneuverability of these titans of the oceans hit the headlines when a container ship as long as the Empire State Building is tall became stuck in the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important waterways.
The emergency stop is a familiar maneuver for most motorists. A hazard presents itself in front of the moving vehicle, the driver hits the brakes and grips the steering wheel, the car screeches to a halt, hopefully under full control.
But what happens when the vehicle you're driving is the size of a small city and doesn't actually come equipped with brakes?
That's the scenario facing those at the helms of the hundreds of gigantic container and cruise ships in our seas and waterways.
The maneuverability of these titans of the oceans hit the headlines when a container ship as long as the Empire State Building is tall became stuck in the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important waterways.