Owners and insurers of the container ship Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal in March, said a formal agreement had been reached in a dispute over compensation, and the canal authority said the vessel would be allowed to leave on July 7.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has held the giant ship and its crew in a lake between two sections of the waterway since it was evicted on March 29, amid a dispute over a compensation claim by the SCA.
The Japanese-owned Ever Given became stuck due to high winds and remained stranded in the canal for six days, disrupting global trade.
“Arrangements will be made for the release of the vessel and an event to celebrate the agreement will be held at the Authority’s headquarters in Ismailia in due course,” Faz Peermohamed of Stann Marine, which represents owner Shoei Kisen and its insurers, said in a statement.
The SCA said the settlement contract would be signed Wednesday at a ceremony, and that participants could see the ship’s departure.
Stann Marine did not give details about the agreement.
Osama Rabie, president of the SCA, said the canal will receive a tug with a towing capacity of about 75 tons as part of the deal, without mentioning any other details.
“We have preserved the authority’s rights in full, we have preserved our relationship with the company and also the political relations with Japan,” he told a private television station Sunday night.
The channel earned revenue of $3 billion in the first six months of 2021, up 8.8% from the same period last year, despite the Ever Given accident, Rabie said.
Shoei Kisen and its insurers said last month that they had reached an agreement in principle with the SCA.
SCA had demanded compensation of $916 million to cover salvage work, reputational damage and lost revenue, before publicly lowering the request to $550 million.
Shoei Kisen and the ship’s insurers had challenged the claim and the detention of the ship by order of an Egyptian court.
On Sunday, an Egyptian court adjourned hearings on the compensation dispute until July 11 to allow the canal and the ship’s owner to finalize the agreement, court sources and a lawyer said.
