MV EVER GIVEN owner wants to pay $150M as compensation down from $600M: Egypt's Suez Canal chairman

CAIRO – 24 May 2021: Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Osama Rabie stated in a phone-in Sunday that the Japanese Company owning MV EVER GIVEN, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, wants to reduce the compensation sum from $600 million to $150 million.

It is noted that the authority had slashed the reimbursement sum by one third forfeiting its right in reputation compensation. The current amount requested is to make up for the costs incurred to free the container ship that got aground for six days on March 23-29, and for the revenues lost due to the blockage of the international waterway, which made the international trade endure $9.6 billion in losses daily throughout the stranding.

The Suez Canal Authority chairman pointed out that the court upheld the decision of the ship confiscation Sunday and that it will designate the compensation sum on May 29.

The company requested the departure of the captain but the authority could not approve as the matter is subject to the court's decision, Rabie noted saying that the authority is responsive but also wants its rights. For instance, it allowed the departure of two sailors who had to attend to personal emergencies.

Rabie highlighted that all ships crossing the Suez Canal have a copy of the international waterway's rules indicating that the captain is the sole person in charge of the vessel. "If he requests to postpone crossing the Canal because of bad weather, his demand is fulfilled right away," Rabie asserted clarifying that also the captain has the right to ask for changing the guide and his demand will be approved. He added that MV EVER GIVEN's captain did not ask for any of those measures, which means that the Suez Canal Authority has no liability for the accident.

On Sunday, the owning company blamed the Suez Canal Authority for accident objecting the confiscated of the ship.

After it was freed on March 29 through deredging and pulling by tugboats, the vessel was escorted to the Bitter Lakes for technical inspection, crew interrogation, and black box analysis.

The length of MV EVER GIVEN is 40 meters, its width is 59 meters, and its cargo capacity is 224,000 tons. The cargo ship is operated by the Taiwanese company "Evergreen Marine Corp," and owned by the Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha. It was heading from China to the Netherlands.

In April, Chairman of Suez Canal Osama Rabie stated Sunday that 61 percent of oil tankers' traffic passes through Egypt's international waterway.

Yet, Rabie added that container ships and bulk carriers still compose the majority of vessels crossing Suez Canal pointing out that the incentives offered by the authority in 2020 resulted in a rise of eight percent in vessels using the canal in spite of COVID-19.

The chairman had indicated on April 8 that the number of ships that cross the Suez Canal daily is 85 and that 84 crossed over the previous 24 hours carrying the heaviest load since the waterway was launched in 1869 as it weights 6.1 million tons.

The official highlighted that around 18,000 ships cross the Suez Canal every year, and that the authority has 17,000 workers.

Rabie noted that the authority is acquiring tugboats whose capacity is between 250 and 300 tons. The first of those was received on April 9, while another will be delivered in August. Their height is 147.5 meters, and they can dig to a depth of up to 35 meters.

The dredger delivered is dubbed "Mohab Mamish," and that to arrive in summer is called "Hussein Tantawy."

The dredgers' purchase is part of a plan to develop the authority by 2026. That includes developing the vessel fleet, including dredgers, tugboats, and boats used to transport guides. 

On May 11, Rabie stated digging parallel passages from the 132nd kilometer to the 162nd kilometer lying in the southern section of the international waterway near the Suez Gulf, and from the 122nd kilometer to the 132nd kilometer located in the Bitter Lakes. The parallel passages will be on the western side of the Canal. 

Those to be added to the parallel Suez Canal introduced in 2015 extending over 72 kilometers. Similarly, the authority is also enlarging the depth from 127 meters to 172 meters.

Additional contribution by Noha El Tawil