Ship’s owners hit with a $900m parking fine
CAIRO: The megaship that blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal and crippled world trade for nearly a week has been “seized” on court orders until the vessel’s owners pay $900m, canal authorities said.
The 200,000 tonne MV Ever Given became diagonally stuck in the narrow but crucial global trade artery in a sandstorm on March 23, triggering a mammoth six-day effort by Egyptian personnel and international salvage specialists to dislodge it.
Maritime data company Lloyd’s List said the blockage by the vessel, longer than four
football fields, held up an estimated $9.6bn worth of cargo between Asia and Europe each day it was stuck.
Egypt also lost between $12m and $15m in revenue for each day the waterway was closed, according to the canal authority.
The vessel “was seized due to its failure to pay $900m” compensation, Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie was quoted as saying by AlAhram, a state-run newspaper.
Mr Rabie did not explicitly cite the Japanese owners Shoei Kisen Kaisha, but a different source at the SCA said that negotiations over damages between that company, insurance firms and the canal authority were ongoing.
The Japanese-owned, Taiwanese-operated and Panama-flagged
ship was moved to unobstructive anchorage in the canal’s Great Bitter Lake after it was freed on March 29, and tailbacks totalling 420 vessels at the northern and southern entrances to the canal were cleared in early April.
The compensation figure was calculated based on “the losses incurred by the grounded vessel as well as the flotation and maintenance costs” Mr Rabie said, citing a ruling handed down by the Ismailia Economic Court in Egypt.
The grounding of the ship and the intensive salvage efforts are also reported to have resulted in significant damage to the canal.
In its court filing, the SCA referred to Articles 59 and 60 of Egypt’s maritime trade law, which stipulate that the ship would remain seized until the amount is paid in full. But analysts have warned that apportioning legal responsibility for losses incurred by the numerous parties is likely to play out in protracted and complex international litigation.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ruled out any widening of the southern stretch of the canal where the boat became stuck.