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Ahram Online
An Egyptian economic court upheld a ruling, on Tuesday, to prevent the giant Ever Given ship from leaving the country. The ruling comes amid a dispute over the payment of $900 Million in compensation for the losses incurred by the blockage.
The court rejected a legal appeal by the ship owner against a ruling, which granted the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) the power to impound the mega container ship as ongoing compensation talks lingered.
The Panama-flagged MV Ever Given is owned by the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen and operated by a Taiwanese Evergreen Marine Corp. The ship carried a cargo load worth $3.5 Billion.
The 400-metre-long ship had run aground across the canal on 23 March and was re-floated on 29 March. It remains idle in the Bitter Lakes, a wide stretch of water halfway between the North and South ends of the canal, where an investigation into the incident has been ongoing.
The Ever Given’s protection and indemnity (P&I) insurer, UK Club, said last month, “it was “disappointed” by what it described as the arrest of the vessel despite a carefully considered and generous offer made to the SCA”.
The insurer did not provide details on the offer it has submitted to the SCA.
It said the SCA has not provided a detailed justification for this “extraordinarily large claim”, which it said includes a $300 Million claim for a “salvage bonus” and a $300 Million claim for “loss of reputation”.
