Egypt 'seizes' megaship which blocked the Suez Canal

Egypt ‘seizes’ megaship Ever Given which blocked the Suez Canal until the owners pay $900MILLION compensation

• The megaship which blocked the Suez Canal has been ‘seized’ on court orders
• The Ever Given was seized due to its failure to pay $900 million in compensation 
• The vessel became lodged in the crucial global trade artery for 6 days last month

A megaship which 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 $900 million, canal authorities said Tuesday.

The MV Ever Given was seized due to its failure to pay $900 million in compensation, Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram, a state-run newspaper.

The Japanese-owned, Taiwanese operated and Panama flagged vessel got diagonally stuck in the narrow but crucial global trade artery in a sandstorm on March 23, setting in motion a mammoth six-day-long effort by Egyptian personnel and international salvage specialists to dislodge it.

A megaship which 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 $900 million, canal authorities said Tuesday 

The MV Ever Given was seized due to its failure to pay $900 million in compensation, Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram, a state-run newspaper 

Maritime data company Lloyd’s List said the blockage had held up an estimated $9.6 billion worth of cargo each day between Asia and Europe.

The canal is economically vital to Egypt, which lost between $12 and $15 million in revenues for each day the waterway was closed, according to the canal authority.

The $900 million compensation figure was calculated based on ‘the losses incurred by the grounded vessel as well as the flotation and maintenance costs, according to a court ruling handed down by the Ismailia Economic Court,’ Rabie added.

He did not explicitly cite the Japanese owners Shoei Kisen Kaisha, but a different source at the SCA said Tuesday that negotiations over damages between that company, insurance firms and the canal authority were ongoing.

The compensation sum includes the costs of the salvage operation, transit fees that were lost and the costs associated with stopping all traffic in the canal

The Ever Given is now about halfway in a holding lake called Bitter Lake as the SCA investigates. All of the ship’s crew are reportedly cooperating and have offered all of the logs or information that has been asked of them

In its court filing, the SCA referred to Articles 59 and 60 of Egypt’s maritime trade law which stipulates that the ship would remain seized until the amount is paid in full, Al-Ahram said.

The MV Ever Given was moved to unobstructive anchorage in 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 Suez Canal earned Egypt just over $5.7 billion in the 2019/20 fiscal year, according to official figures.

The ship was trapped for six days before authorities finally managed to set it free in an oepration involving tug boats and diggers

On Thursday, the ship’s technical managers, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, said in an email that the ship’s crew was cooperating with authorities in their investigation into what led to the vessel running aground. 

They said that Suez Canal Authority investigators have been given access to the Voyage Data Recorder, also known as a vessel’s black box. 

The news was announced by Rabei in a phone interview with government-run broadcaster Sada Elbalad on March 31.

He said the Canal Authority would demand the $1 billion (£722 million) sum in compensation for the six-day delay.

‘It’s the country’s right,’ Rabei said, without specifying who would be responsible for paying the compensation. 

The Suez Canal is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world as it creates the shortest distance for vessels to cross from the Indian Oceans into the Atlantic taking roughly 16 hours 

It is expected either Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, who own the Panama-flagged Ever Given, or the Taiwanese firm Evergreen Marine Corp, who had charted the ship, will be liable for the compensation.    

But Evergreen Marine Corp have said the accident was not their responsibility and doubt they will be sought for compensation.  

Rabei said that in the past, canal authorities and the ship’s owners have had a good relationship. 

Two Egyptian canal pilots were aboard when the ship got stuck. 

Such an arrangement is customary to guide vessels through the narrow waterway, but the ship’s captain retains ultimate authority, according to experts.  

The ship was trapped for six days before authorities finally managed to set it free on Monday.

The Ever Given is now about halfway through the canal in a holding lake called Bitter Lake as the SCA investigates.

All of the ship’s crew are reportedly cooperating and have offered all of the logs or information that has been asked of them.

The other options would have been to sail around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, a voyage that could take around 24 days to complete, or to use the Arctic shipping root, which would add 35 days to the trip

On the move: The Ever Given was back on its way in the Suez Canal on Monday, March 29  being pulled by tugboats towards a wide stretch of water nearly a week after it got jammed in the Egyptian shore in a blockage that strangled global trade 

The compensation sum includes the costs of the salvage operation, transit fees that were lost and the costs associated with stopping all traffic in the canal.

The Suez Canal is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world as it creates the shortest distance for vessels to cross from the Indian Oceans into the Atlantic taking roughly 16 hours.

The other options would be to sail around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, a voyage that could take around 24 days to complete, or to use the Arctic shipping root, which would add 35 days to the trip.   

The Ever Given had become jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early Tuesday, March 23, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. 

The bow of the Ever Given was finally dislodged from the channel’s bank on Monday, March 29 and towed up the waterway after tugboats had straightened the vessel in an early-morning operation and dredgers had vacuumed away large chunks of sand.   

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