CAIRO – Egypt will release the massive container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week in March until, according to local authorities, the owners agree to pay as much as $ 1 billion in compensation while investigating how the Ever Given got stuck and closed one of the most important waterways in the world.
“The vessel will remain here until the investigation is completed and compensation is paid,” Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told state television in Egypt on Thursday.
“We hope for a speedy agreement,” he said. “Once they agree to compensation, the vessel will be allowed to move.”
Mr. Rabie did not say on Thursday what amount Egyptian authorities wanted as compensation. But he said last week that Egypt would demand $ 1 billion for the cost of the operation to free the ship, the loss of throughput – a major source of foreign exchange for Egypt – and other costs of blocking the canal, which has a traffic jam of more than 400 ships on either side of the canal.
The Suez Canal Authority did not say how Rabie got to the figure, including how much it spent to free the vessel. The blockade cost the Egyptian state $ 95 million in lost transit costs, according to a report by Refinitiv, a financial analysis firm in London. However, Egyptian officials also said they would recover the lost revenue if they started through the canal again.