Egyptian authorities seize a massive cargo ship that the Suez Canal blocked last month, the channel chief and a judicial official said Tuesday. The ship was impounded amid a financial dispute with the owner.
Lieutenant General Osama Rabie said that the mad Ever Given may not leave the country before a compensation amount with the Japanese owner of the vessel, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd.
“The vessel has now been officially impounded,” he told Egypt’s state-run television late Monday. “They do not want to pay anything.”
There was no immediate comment from the owner of the vessel.
Rabie did not say how much money the channel authority was seeking. However, a judicial official said he was demanding at least $ 900 million. State-owned Ahram also reported the $ 900 million daily.
The amount takes into account the salvage operation, the cost of the canal traffic and the lost transport money for the week that the Ever Given blocked the canal.
The official said the order to submit the vessel was issued by a court in the city of Ismailia in the Suez Canal on Monday and that the crew of the vessel was notified on Tuesday.
He said prosecutors in Ismailia had also launched a separate investigation into what led to Ever Given being stranded. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to inform media.
Rabie said negotiations are still underway to reach a settlement on compensation.
He warned in an interview with The Associated Press last week that the case before a court would be more damaging to the owner of the vessel than settling with the channel management.
Lawsuits can be complicated, as the vessel is owned by a Japanese firm, which is operated by a Taiwanese delivery company and flagged in Panama.
The Panama-flagged ship carrying about $ 3.5 billion in cargo between Asia and Europe ran aground on March 23 in the narrow, man-made canal that separates continental Africa from the Asian Sinai Peninsula.
The vessel crashed on the banks of a single channel of the canal about 6 km north of the southern entrance near the city of Suez.
On March 29, salvage crews liberated the Ever Given, ending a crisis that blocked one of the world’s most important waterways and thwarted billions of dollars a day in maritime trade. The vessel has since been traveling in the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt, just north of the site where it had previously blocked the canal.
The unprecedented six-day shutdown, which has raised fears of prolonged delays, shortages of goods and rising costs for consumers, has hurt the shipping industry, which is already under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.
Rabie, the grain chief, told state-run television that the canal authority was not committing any offenses. He did not want to discuss possible causes, including the speed of the ship and the strong wind that hit it during a sandstorm.
When asked if the owner of the ship was guilty, he said, “Of course, yes.”
Rabie said the conclusion of the investigation is expected on Thursday.