The Ever Given impasse is finally at an end, with the ultra large container vessel (ULCV) ready to set sail from the Great Bitter Lakes body of water halfway through the Suez Canal.
When the ULVC, carrying 20 388 containers on board its 390-metre-long deck, finally proceeds up the last leg of the Egyptian waterway it will be well over three months since it was impounded following a very costly dispute between the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and the ship’s owners.
While the amount for damages charged by the SCA had been whittled down from an initial $916m to $550m, the final bill remains anyone’s guess.
All Shoei Kisen Kaisha was prepared to say after it reached a settlement with the SCA following protracted legal back-and-forth slugging between solicitors in London and Cairo, was that a formal agreement had been reached on the amount of compensation.
Needless to say it will be with a sense of relief that the vessel’s stricken crew will see the back of Port Said once the vessel exits the Suez into the Mediterranean.
They obviously felt a little, how shall we say – deserted out there in Great Bitter Lakes.
However, the last chapter in the incident that saw the Ever Given being jammed in the southern channel of the Suez towards the end of March – yes, it’s been that long – is far from over.
Recipients of the vessel’s cargo, those who are still planning on claiming their goods once they’re offloaded in Rotterdam, must be on tenterhooks over the general average (GA) charges that will be absorbed by final freight charges.
Shoei Kisen Kaisha declared GA almost from the moment the vessel was impounded in Great Bitter Lakes, and a long and hard fight ensued to litigate sense into the inflated damages the SCA had charged for salvaging costs and loss of reputation.
Whatever that finally amounted to will be brought to bear on the owners of cargo on the Ever Given’s notorious voyage.
Let’s just hope the hulking ULCV doesn’t get stuck again.
