A Japanese-owned cargo ship Egyptian authorities seized after it ran aground in the Suez Canal was released Wednesday following a settlement between parties.
The Suez Canal Authority seized the Ever Given in April as it argued with the ship’s owner and insurers over how much they owed for the costs associated with the canal’s nearly weeklong blockage.
The ship’s owner, leasing business Shoei Kisen Kaisha, agreed “in principle” to a compensation agreement with the canal authority, Ever Given’s insurer and legal team announced June 23.
That agreement was reportedly signed in a ceremony on Wednesday, and the vessel was then released from Great Bitter Lake into the Mediterranean Sea.
EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES REACH SETTLEMENT DEAL WITH EVER GIVEN OWNER
“From the outset the UK Club, together with the ship’s owners and other insurers, has been focused on reaching a fair and amicable settlement with the SCA that would allow the ship, her crew and her cargo to resume their voyage,” said UK P&I Club, one of the ship’s insurers, in a statement. “After more than three months of negotiations we are pleased that an agreement was reached which has allowed the ship to leave the Suez Canal.”
Neither Egyptian officials nor the ship’s owners or insurers revealed the total value of the settlement. The canal authority sought nearly $1 billion in compensation at the beginning of negotiations and seized the Ever Given after negotiations stalled.
Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, chairman of the canal authority, said at the time of the ship’s seizure that Shoei Kisen Kaisha did not want to pay “anything.”
“They are still talking to us, so we will continue negotiations on compensation,” a spokesman for Shoei Kisen Kaisha said of Egyptian authorities at the time. The total sought by the canal authority was reportedly lowered to $550 million.
UK P&I Club also paid tribute to the ship’s crew on Wednesday, which it said had been “living in a state of uncertainty” since the ship was grounded.
“In addition to their routine duties onboard, the crew have worked closely with the SCA, salvors, investigators, lawyers and countless others, and throughout it all have consistently displayed a patient professionalism that is truly admirable,” UK P&I Club said.
The ship’s crew of Indian nationals was initially stuck with the ship as settlement negotiations continued, but the canal authority allowed ship management to replace several crewmen whose contracts expired during the ship’s seizure, a spokesman for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which manages the Ever Given, told the Washington Examiner.
Two crew members were released “on compassionate grounds,” the spokesperson said, and the ship’s crew stands at 24.
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The Ever Given became lodged between the banks of the Suez Canal, a major world shipping route, on March 23 following a sandstorm that brought winds in excess of 45 mph. Rabie disputed at the time that weather conditions were primarily responsible for the ship’s grounding and suggested human error played a role. Salvage crews freed the ship March 29.
