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The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) will demand around $ 1 billion (850 million euros) in compensation for the blockage of the Suez Canal. For six days, the Japanese container ship Ever Given, sailing under the Panamanian flag for a Taiwanese shipping company, blocked the main sea route between Europe and Asia.
According to SCA director Osama Rabie, compensation is based on missed tolls (ships pay hundreds of thousands of euros to cross the canal), damage caused by dredging and rescuing the stranded vessel, and costs of equipment and personnel. Rabie told local Egyptian channel Sada Elbalad this, according to financial news agency Bloomberg.
Rabie did not specify from whom the SCA is claiming compensation. The Japanese owner of the Ever Given, Shoei Kisen, must pay for the refloating of the ship, according to maritime lawyers.
“The country is on his right,” Rabie said, according to Bloomberg. According to him, the incident damaged Egypt’s reputation. “This country should be happy.”
Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine Corp., which leases the Ever Given, said Thursday it was not responsible for the cargo delay. The company does not plan to pay compensation.
Shoei Kisen will discuss compensation with the Suez Canal Authority, but the Japanese company did not give further details.
The Ever Given is now in the Grote Bittermeer, halfway up the Suez Canal. There, divers investigated how damaged the ship had been and whether it could sail to Rotterdam on its own. The SCA reported on Thursday that it will be until Friday evening or Saturday morning for all delays in the Suez Canal to be resolved.
A version of this article was also published in NRC Handelsblad on April 2, 2021
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of April 2, 2021
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