Giant container ship Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March and disrupted global shipping, have finally weighed anchor on Wednesday following a compensation deal between Egypt and the vessel’s Japanese owner.
After having been impounded for more than 100 days, the nearly 200,000-tonne vessel started to move north from the central canal city of Ismailia towards the Mediterranean Sea, shortly after 11:30 am local time (09:30 GMT), according to AFP.
On March 23, the vessel stuck across the canal, blocking a vital artery from Asia to Europe that carries 10 percent of global maritime trade and pumps vital revenues into Egypt. Some ships had to U-turn and head around the tip of Africa rather than wait for Suez traffic to resume, depriving the Egyptian waterway of their fees.
Later about six days after blocking the canal and disrupting global shipping, Egyptian authorities exerted a huge salvage effort. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) demanded compensation from the ship’s owner and operators for what the authority said it was owed for the incident.
The canal authority had demanded Japanese owners Shoei Kisen Kaisha up to $1 billion in compensation, an amount to cover cost of tugboats, dredgers, and crews hired to salvage the ship as well as the loss of revenue while the Egyptian waterway was blocked. Later, Egypt slashed the amount that to around $550 million, but the final amount has been the subject of tough negotiations.
The SCA announced on Sunday that a final deal had been reached, yet without disclosing the amount of compensation to be paid. It said in a statement that the ship would leave on Wednesday.
In June, the SCA announced that it had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Japanese firm ahead of reaching a final deal.
SCA chairman Osama Rabie, in a televised interview on Sunday, hailed the deal, as he said: “We maintained our rights and we kept good relations with our clients,” he said.
According to Rabie, Egypt will also receive a 75-tonne tugboat from Shoei Kisen Kaisha as part of the compensation package deal. He added that the family of one rescue worker who died during the salvage operation would also be compensated.
Rabie said the Ever Given container ship had suffered “no leakage” and was leaving after a signing ceremony.
Ever Given ship finally leaves the Suez Canal (Photo Credit: Reuters)
Ever Given ship leaving the Egyptian canal (Photo Credit: agencies)
