Egyptian court adjourns in Suez Canal ship case

An Egyptian court on Sunday adjourned a case involving the massive cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week in March. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is currently seeking half a billion dollars from the company that owns the vessel.

The Associated Press reports that the court came to the decision to adjourn after both sides requested more time for negotiations.

The money that the SCA is seeking will be used to cover the costs of salvaging the Ever Given cargo ship. In April, Egyptian authorities seized the ship and demanded its owner, Japanese chartering company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, pay over $900 million in compensation.

“This is the right of the country,” Lt. Gen. Ossama Rabei, head of the SCA, said at the time. “It should get its due.”

This amount that the SCA demanded was later lowered to $550 million. The Ever Given has been kept in Egypt ever since it was freed as the compensation dispute is worked out.

UK Club, one of the insurers for the cargo ship, disputed the SCA’s claim for compensation in March when the vessel was seized.

“Despite the magnitude of the claim which was largely unsupported, the owners and their insurers have been negotiating in good faith with the SCA. On 12 April, a carefully considered and generous offer was made to the SCA to settle their claim,” the insurance company said at the time.

The AP notes that the hearing was ordered by Egypt’s Ismailia Economic Court after the attorneys for the SCA said they were looking into an offer made by Shoei Kisen Kaisha, though details of the offer were not disclosed.

The blockage caused by the Ever Given resulted in enormous disruptions in the global economy, with around 10 percent of world trade flowing through the canal.