Ever Given ship owners say reach settlement with Egypt to release ship

The owners and insurers of the Ever Given container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March said on Sunday a formal settlement had been reached in a compensation dispute.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) will allow the vessel to sail on July 7, they added.

The canal authority has kept the giant ship and its crew in a lake between two stretches of the waterway since it was dislodged on March 29, amid a dispute over a demand for compensation claim.

Ever Given had become stuck in high winds and blocked the Egyptian canal for six days, causing a disruption to global trade.

“Preparations for the release of the vessel will be made and an event marking the agreement will be held at the Authority’s headquarters in Ismailia in due course,” Faz Peermohamed of Stann Marine, which represents the Japanese owner Shoei Kisen and its insurers, said in a statement.

The SCA said the settlement agreement would be signed on Wednesday at a ceremony, and that participants would be able to watch the ship leaving the canal.

Neither the SCA nor Stann Marine gave any further details of the settlement.

In June, Shoei Kisen and its insurers announced reaching an agreement in principle with the canal authority.

The SCA had initially demanded $916 million in compensation to cover the cost of tugboats, dredgers, and labour hired to salvage the ship as well as the loss of revenue while the canal was blocked. It had later lowered the amount to $550 million.

Earlier on Sunday, an Egyptian court adjourned hearings in the compensation dispute to July 11 to allow the canal authority and Ever Given owners to finalise a settlement, court sources and a lawyer told Reuters.