540 million dollars and a new tugboat. That’s what the Suez Canal Authority will receive by way of compensation for the damage allegedly caused by the grounding of the Ever Given, says the Middle East News Agency. The container ship left the Suez Canal just after 5 pm yesterday after being detained for over three months.
The Middle East News Agency (MENA) invokes ‘an admiral stationed at the Suez Canal who attended many of the negotiations’.
There is no way to verify the accuracy of this claim as the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and Japanese shipowner Shoei Kisen Kaisha agreed to keep the contents confidential. But the national Egyptian news agency is in the thick of it and reports the amount and the tug without any reservations. The canal operator gets the new tug because one was lost in the salvage operation, which incidentally killed a seafarer.
Ever Given leaves Suez Canal
Once the agreement on the settlement was made, the Ever Given was finally allowed to leave the Suez Canal on Wednesday 7 July. It completed its journey through the Suez Canal and sailed into the Mediterranean Sea just after 5 pm Central European Summer Time. According to website Vesselfinder, the ship is on its way to the port of Port Saïd. From there, the ship will eventually set course for Rotterdam.
Earlier in the day, it was released and waved off by the Egyptian authorities in a ceremony. After the Ever Given was pulled free after its grounding, the enormous container ship was detained for more than three months until the agreement about compensation was reached.
Also read: Container ship Ever Given free to leave Suez Canal
The Panamanian-flagged Ever Given ran into a sandstorm in the southern part of the Suez Canal. This caused the ship, which is one of the largest container ships in the world, to become stuck. After six days, the Ever Given was refloated, but by then hundreds of ships on both sides were already stuck in traffic jams.
The gigantic Japanese ship, sailing for the Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen, has approximately 18,300 containers on board. The cargo has a value of about USD 1 billion. The crew members of the ship all have the Indian nationality.
Also read: Captain Ever Given had to keep quarrelling pilots apart
A settlement being reached and the ship leaving Egypt does not mean this is the end of it. The shipowner and its insurers may still attempt to recover part of the settlement amount through legal means. If this happens, it could take many more years for the case to be closed.
Watch a video of the ship leaving below (by The Telegraph).
Also read: Container ship Ever Given grounding: Could it happen again?
This article is based in part on a Dutch article published on NT.nl, a publication of SWZ|Maritime’s publishing partner Promedia, and ANP.
Picture by SCA.
