ROTTERDAM, Netherlands—The Ever Given, the 1,300-foot container ship that became an internet meme after getting stuck in the Suez Canal, is now facing a new type of celebrity: tourist destination.
The ship tied up at a Rotterdam container terminal early Thursday, pulling into a remote, windswept pier lined with rows of rusty containers and near smoking refineries. The ship, one of the world’s biggest seagoing vessels, is also one of its best known, after it got stuck lengthwise across the Suez Canal, blocking traffic both ways on the critical choke point.
It took a week to dig and pull it out, then months to negotiate compensation with Egyptian authorities, before it was allowed to leave the canal.
On Thursday, the Port of Rotterdam jumped at the chance of being part of that global story. “Do you want to see the Ever Given with your own eyes?” the port asked on its Twitter account.
The port is offering tickets for a 90-minute ferry ride past the hulking container ship as it unloads some of its roughly 18,000 containers, before the vessel sets sail for the U.K. Tickets, at 10.95 euros, or about $13, were sold out through Sunday.