An Egyptian court has ordered the Japanese owner of the vessel, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, to pay $ 900 million in damages as a result of losses incurred when marine traffic was transmitted by the essential global waterway through the Panamanian flag.
The solid bill also includes maintenance costs and the cost of the rescue operation, Al Ahram reports.
An international salvage operation worked 24 hours a day to drive the ship off the shores of the canal, and increased in urgent and worldwide attention every day, as ships from around the world were prevented from entering the canal with important fuel and cargo. enter. .
Shoei Kisen Kaisha said insurance companies and lawyers are working on the compensation claim, refusing to comment further.
UK Club, Ever Given’s protection and indemnity insurer, said on Tuesday that they had responded to a $ 916 million claim from the Suez Canal Authority and questioned its basis.
“Despite the largely unsupported extent of the claim, the owners and their insurers negotiated in good faith with the SCA. On April 12, a careful consideration and ample offer was made to the SCA to settle their claim,” reads the statement. said.
UK Club says it is the insurer of the Ever Given for certain obligations of third parties, including obstruction claims or infrastructure problems, but is not the insurer for the vessel itself or the cargo.
His statement further explained why UK Club is of the opinion that the scope of the claim is not valid. “The SCA has not provided a detailed justification for this extraordinarily large claim, which includes a $ 300 million claim for a ‘salvage bonus’ and a $ 300 million claim for ‘loss of reputation’.” The foundation caused no pollution and no report The vessel was driven again after six days and the Suez Canal immediately resumed its commercial operations. The claim offered by the SCA also does not include the claim of the professional rescuer for their salvage services that owners and their underwriters expect to receive separately, “the UK Club statement said.
According to the Suez Canal Authority, the cargo of the ship was seized until the dispute was resolved.
More than 400 ships could not pass through the important shipping lane when the Ever Given ran aground on March 23. The circumstances that led to the situation are still being investigated separately by Egyptian authorities.
CNN’s Mostafa Salem reports from Abu Dhabi and Mai Nishiyama from Tokyo.