The containership Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week, is being held until its owners pay for the damages. The large cargo ship has not been given clearance to leave the lake off of the canal, where it was moved to.
"The Ever Given was seized due to its failure to pay $900 million (€754 million)" in compensation, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie told state-run newspaper Al-Ahram. The sum demanded 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 said.
The canal authority reported that revenue lost during the time that the Ever Given was stuck amounted to $12-$15 million a day.
According to dw.com¸ an unnamed official from the SCA earlier stated that negotiations on damages were being held between the vessel's Japanese owner, insurance firms and the canal authority itself. According to the court filing, the Ever Given will be held until the full compensation amount is paid, in accordance with Egyptian Maritime law.
Ukpandi.com reported that on 7 April, the owners of the container vessel “Ever Given” received a claim from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) for the sum of US $916 million. Despite the magnitude of the claim, the owners and their insurers have been negotiating with the SCA. On 12 April, a counteroffer was made to the SCA to settle their claim.
Suez induced port congestion set to hit terminals
Due to the hold-up, more than 1.9 million TEU of capacity is currently on the water, heading to congested ports all over the world. An article on container-news.com states that, following the Ever Given grounding, up to 400 vessels, many of them container ships, heading both north and south were delayed by the blockage and are now arriving at the destinations at similar times, at ports which were already congested.