General

Egyptian official media "Ahram Gate" reported on Tuesday that the Suez Canal Authority(SCA)has obtained a formal court order for the seizure of the giant container ship "Ever Given", which "failed to pay approximately US$900 million."".

The Suez Canal Authority had previously announced that it would keep the ship until the ship owner compensated the ship for$1 billion in damages caused by the ship’s six-day grounding.

It turns out that SCA is not just talking about it.

It is reported that the Suez Canal has submitted a request to the Ismailia City Economic Court to seize the giant container ship "Ever Given". The documents submitted to the court mentioned Article 59 and Article 60 of the Egyptian Maritime Trade Law..

Moreover, the court has approved the request and issued a seizure order, waiting for the shipowner to pay about US$900 million in compensation.

The news is not groundless. The UK P&I Club has confirmed the news. The association stated that Egypt has claimed US$916 million from the shipowner Shoei Kisen Kaisha, but did not provide too many details.

SCA’s claim includes $300 million in salvage costs and$300 million in“loss of reputation”,which seems to be rejected by the ship’s insurance company, the UK P&I Club. The association revealed that it had filed with SCA this week with the Compensation recommendations.

The claims filed by SCA also do not include claims for salvage services by professional rescuers, which shipowners and hull insurers hope to receive. And the huge claim for loss of reputation is also controversial.

The insurance company stated that the "Ever Given" stranded did not cause pollution and no casualties were reported. Six days later, the ship floated again and the Suez Canal quickly resumed commercial operations.

SCA stated that it intends to maintain the arrest of the ship until payment is made. This position has aroused the anger of the ship’s insurance company and ship management company.

Evergreen Group (Evergreen)said that the company has begun to consider other methods to rescue the cargo trapped on the ship. In order to lift the arrest warrant as soon as possible, Evergreen is urging all relevant parties to promote a settlement agreement. The company is currently investigating the scope of this court order and studying the possibility that the ship and the cargo on board will be handled separately.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the cost of salvage operations is expected to be around 7 figures. Refinitiv estimates that the loss of canal transportation costs to the Suez Canal Authority caused by the six-day suspension is less than US$100 million.

At present, "Ever Given", with 18,000 TEUs of cargo on board and 25 crew members together, are still "stayed" in the Great Bitter Lake. The time of being trapped by the claim issue is much longer than the time she has been trapped on the shore of the canal. The time of "release" is also unknown.

Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told the official media that he is very sure that the responsibility for the stranding of "Ever Given" lies with the shipowner.

The Suez Canal Authority stated that it still hopes to resolve the claim issue through "peaceful means."

The shipowner recently stated that he could not accept such a high claim amount and is actively mediating to control the compensation amount below 100 million US dollars, which means that the amount of the claim on the Egyptian side has been reduced by 90%.

With such a large gap, I believe that the Egyptian side will not easily accept it, and the negotiation or delay again, and Ever Given's road to restart seems hopeless. If the final negotiation fails, it may stay in Egypt forever.

Once such a situation occurs, it is not only the shipowner who is unlucky, but also all the shippers who carry the cargo on the Ever Given, because Egypt may "eat" the cargo together!

Please forward the knowledge to remind foreign traders and friends around you~