The Suez Canal Authority said the last ships stranded in the canal zone due to the grounding of Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corporation’s Ever Given passed through the channel on Saturday (April 3), while accident investigators are about to release their findings.
On Saturday, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Chairman Osama Rabie said that the last 61 ships out of the 422 that blocked the canal on Monday passed through the globally important trade artery on Saturday.
The international supply chain was thrown into chaos when the 400-meter-long Ever Ever ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23, and it took nearly a week for specialized rescue teams to get the Ever Ever out of the water after an extensive rescue and repeated tugboat operations.
The Suez Canal Authority said a total of 85 ships should have passed through the canal on Saturday, including 24 that arrived after the Chang Chi ran aground.
The head of the canal authority, Osama Rabie, told MBC Masr private television Friday night that the SCA opened an investigation Wednesday into the cause of the ship running aground in the canal and blocking the waterway.
He added, “The investigation is going well and will take two more days, and then we will announce the results of the investigation.”
In a previous telephone interview with a pro-government television program, Rabi said Egypt expects to claim $1 billion and warned that the long-hauler and its cargo would not be released if the claim goes to court, according to the Central News Agency.
He said the $1 billion in compensation costs include rescue operations, the cost of halting river traffic, and the cost of the ship’s passage that Egypt has lost over the week the ship blocked the Suez Canal.
Rabi did not say who should pay for the compensation. He also said that the canal authorities and the owner of the Changchi ship has maintained good relations in the past.
The giant container ship Chang Chi is currently moored at the Big Bitter Lake, and the authorities and the management of the ship said the investigation is ongoing.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical management company of the vessel, told the Associated Press by e-mail on April 1 that the personnel on board the vessel are cooperating with the authorities to investigate the cause of the grounding of the vessel.
Bess said Suez Canal Authority investigators have been given access to the Voyage Data Recorder, commonly known as the ship’s black box.
Rabi told the show’s hosts that if the investigation goes smoothly and the parties involved agree to the amount of compensation, then the long-hauler can continue on its way with no problems.
However, he also pointed out that if the compensation issue were to go to court, then the LTV and its cargo, worth about $3.5 billion, would not be allowed to leave Egypt.
Given that the Evergreen is owned by Japan’s Shoryu Steamship, chartered by Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine, and registered in Panama, the issue of the Evergreen compensation lawsuit could be quite complicated.
Bays has said that at the time the Chang Chi ran aground, there were two Egyptian canal pilots on board; such an arrangement is customary for ships passing through the narrow Suez Canal, but according to experts, the captain of the Chang Chi still has the final say.
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