At the end of March 2021, the headlines were full of stories about the ship, the Ever Given, that had managed to get itself stranded in the Suez Canal, completely blocking this important trade route for all traffic.
After a massive, multifaceted operation to dislodge the ship from the banks of the canal, the Ever Given was finally freed and re-floated on the 29th of March and, within a short time, the canal resumed operations. However, the impacts of this incident will continue to echo throughout the world economy for months to come, and the Ever Given, despite being freed is certainly not free to leave.
Seizure and Insurance Claim
The Egyptian government, which controls the Suez Canal has seized the Ever Given and says it will not allow the ship to leave until the owners have paid compensation and an investigation into the incident is complete.
Egypt is demanding at least 1 billion dollars as operational costs incurred to free the ship. This figure also includes damages for loss of transit fees, which is a major source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt, along with damages for “loss of reputation” and other costs relating to the 100s of ships that were delayed or prevented from using the canal. Over 800 people worked in the operation to release the ship and equipment was brought in from outside too, and work continued around the clock to release the Ever Given, which weighed over 200,000 tonnes.
The ships insurers however have rejected these claims, saying that they are unjustified and excessive and thus the ship is likely to be detained in the Great Bitter Lake or Port Said until the issues are resolved. The Egyptians have expressed a preference to settle the matter out of court and the ship’s operators/owners are not unwilling to agree to compensation, however no agreements have been reached as at the time of this writing, while lawsuits have not been ruled out.
A Stranded Crew
While the ship’s 25-member crew will likely continue to be paid, they remain stranded in Egypt at present. An extended dispute could see the crew languish in Egypt with continued pay in jeopardy. The ILO has noted that this trend of “seafarer abandonment” is witnessing an alarming rise, particularly as a result of the global pandemic, with over 250 known cases reported as of April 2021.
