As divers analyze the Ever Given’s helmet to see if it can continue sailing, it begins to question who should pay for losses incurred during the Suez Canal blockade.
“Damage and losses will be calculated and how much dredging machines have consumed. The estimate will reach $1,000 or maybe a little more. It’s a right Egypt has,” he said on Wednesday Osama Rabie, president of the Suez Canal Authority (ACS), without specifying who should pay that money or whether Egypt has already claimed compensation.
This figure would be calculated based on lost transit quotas, damage to the waterway during drainage, efforts to refloat the freighter, and equipment and material costs.
Rabie said on Egyptian television that the incident damaged Egypt’s reputation. “The country should get what it deservesHe added.
Researchers began their work wednesday by accessing Ever Given, which once it was refloated on Monday is now in the Great Bitter Lake area, a wider area of the canal where it can be standing without interrupting the passage.
The 400-metre-long ship was stranded diagonally on the Suez Canal on 23 March for nearly a week, which caused the blockade of one of the world’s major commercial sea routes.
The initial cause was attributed to the strong winds, but now researchers want to check if there was any technical or human error.
Who pays?
And the cause is important in view of the imminent legal actions for compensation and for determining who should pay for the delays.
Rabie believes there were technical and human errors and does not consider the wind to be the main reason.
“The channel has never been closed badly, ” he said on Monday. And he also denied that the enormous size of the ship was the cause, as “even larger freighters” cross the track.
Rabie also noted that the two channel pilots who were aboard Ever Given to guide them are not responsible. “They have a high level and are highly competent,” he argued.
Ever Given is in the Great Bitter Lake area while the inspection is taking place. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES
Shoei Kisen, the Japanese firm that owns Ever Given said it had not received any claims or legal claims for the blockade caused by the freighter at this time.
“We are still investigating the cause of the incident and the cost, including insurance payment and possible damages,” Reuters Yumi Shinohara of Shoei Kisen’s freight management department told reuters Yumi Shinohara.
It has been reported that the Japanese firm has insurance of US$3 billion in case of possible claims.
Due to losses for perishable goods or alteration in the supply chain, there may be claims from both the owners of the cargo of the Ever Given like the other ships that have been delayed.
For its part, Evergreen Marine, the Taiwan-based company responsible for chartering the ship, said thursday that it is not responsible for delays in the distribution of cargo carrying the ship that, according to the authorities, will not move from the current area until the investigation is over.
With tugboats and dredging the Channel bed finally the Ever Given had to be refloated. IMAGE SOURCE: EPA/MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES
“There’s almost no chance we’ll be claimed compensation,” evergreen Marine President Eric Hsieh said.
Evergreen Egypt’s agent Mohamed Bahaa said he is not expecting a dispute between his company and the Suez Canal Authority.
Rabie said the ship and cargo it carries (nearly 20,000 containers) are unlikely to remain in Egypt in the event that the compensation case ends up in court.
Lasting consequences
The blockade is also expected to generate a wave of claims to insurers. For example, London-based insurance company Lloyd’s expects “big losses” of $100 million or more, president Bruce Carnegie-Brown said this week.
Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Maritime Transport, said it will take time before the industry recovers from the consequences of the blockade.
“Now they are in a hurry for the ships to cross the canal, which will have effects on the ports of destination because they will become congested. That means there will also be delays,” Platten told the BBC.
