After Suez Canal blocking: apology, possible compensations declared amid sailing suspension

CAIRO – 25 March 2021: Chairman of Suez Canal Osama Rabie stated that authorities mull giving compensations to ships that were subject to delay because of the waterway's blocking as a result of a stranded container ship.  In tandem, Japan's Shoei Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. owning the ship apologized for the situation confirming that no oil leakage or human losses have occurred.

Two dredges were deployed to support the work of the 10 tugboats that have been pulling and redirecting the ship. It is noted that the number of tugboats were raised by two as it was eight on Wednesday.

Rabie said that sailing in the international waterway will be allowed for a whole day once the ship floats in order to make it up for ships whose crossing got delayed.

Sailing in Suez Canal is temporarily suspended on Thursday after 13 ships were allowed to cross within "the Caravan of the North" heading from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

The official attributed the cause of the accident to bad weather as wind speed recorded 40 knots, which had impaired the ability to guide the ship.

The length of MV EVER GIVEN is 400 meters, its width is 59 meters, and its cargo capacity is 224,000 tons. The cargo ship is owned by the Japanese company, and operated by Taiwanese company "Evergreen Marine Corp."