Egyptian court upholds detention of Ever Given in Suez Canal: lawyer

An Egyptian court is set to deliver its ruling on Sunday relating to the closure of the Suez canal in March after a massive container ship ran aground. (Reuters)

• The “Evergiven,” which is considered one of the largest container ships in the world, ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23

DUBAI: An Egyptian court has rejected an appeal by the Japanese owner of the Ever Given container ship against the vessel's detention in the Suez Canal, where it blocked traffic for six days in March after becoming grounded, a lawyer said.
The “Evergiven,” which is considered one of the largest container ships in the world, ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23, and remained in this position for six days, which disrupted traffic in both directions. The ship has been detained since then in the area.
For its part, the Suez Canal Authority is demanding compensation of $916.5 million, to cover the loss of transit fees and damage to the waterway during the efforts to float the ship.
Evergiven, which is 400 meters in length, is owned by the Japanese company “Shoy Kisen Kaisha,” and it was leased by the Taiwanese “Evergreen Line” when it was stranded at the southern end of the waterway for six days, disrupting shipping markets.
A lawyer representing the Japanese company that owns the giant container ship has blamed the canal authority for causing the obstruction by allowing the vessel to pass through the waterway in unfavorable weather conditions.
The defense team provided the court with the ship’s black box recordings, which showed disagreements between two of the channel’s guides and the Channel Authority’s control center regarding the ship’s entry to the navigational runway in stormy weather, according to the lawyer.
He added that the lawyers informed the court that the ship should have been accompanied by at least two tugboats, but “this did not happen.”
The Suez Canal Authority was not immediately available for comment, but it has repeatedly and publicly denied any wrongdoing.
The Japanese company’s lawyer team submitted a request to the court to obtain temporary financial compensation of $100,000 from the Suez Canal Authority for seizing the vessel and disrupting it.