Egyptian authorities have seized a massive cargo ship which blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week last month, amid a dispute over financial damages.
An Egyptian court ordered the vessel's Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, to pay $900 million in compensation as a result of losses inflicted when the Panamanian-flagged Ever Given prevented marine traffic from transiting through the vital global trade waterway, the state-run Al Ahram news outlet said on Tuesday.
Egypt will impound the giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal last month until its Japanese owner pays $900m in compensation.
One of the Ever Given's insurers, UK Club, said the Suez Canal Authority had rejected its offer to settle the claim.
It described the claim, which includes $300m for a salvage bonus and $300m for loss of reputation, as "extraordinarily large" and "largely unsupported".
The Ever Given is anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, the canal's midway point.
The 400m-long (1,312ft), 220,000-tonne ship became wedged diagonally across the waterway on 23 March after running aground amid high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility.
It was freed six days later, after a salvage operation involving a flotilla of powerful tug boats and dredging vessels that shifted an estimated 30,000 cubic metres (1.1m cubic ft) of mud and sand.
More than 400 vessels had to wait to pass through the 193km (120-mile) canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe.
An Egyptian court ordered the vessel's Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, to pay $900 million in compensation as a result of losses inflicted when the Panamanian-flagged Ever Given prevented marine traffic from transiting through the vital global trade waterway, the state-run Al Ahram news outlet said on Tuesday.
Egypt will impound the giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal last month until its Japanese owner pays $900m in compensation.
One of the Ever Given's insurers, UK Club, said the Suez Canal Authority had rejected its offer to settle the claim.
It described the claim, which includes $300m for a salvage bonus and $300m for loss of reputation, as "extraordinarily large" and "largely unsupported".
The Ever Given is anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, the canal's midway point.
The 400m-long (1,312ft), 220,000-tonne ship became wedged diagonally across the waterway on 23 March after running aground amid high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility.
It was freed six days later, after a salvage operation involving a flotilla of powerful tug boats and dredging vessels that shifted an estimated 30,000 cubic metres (1.1m cubic ft) of mud and sand.
More than 400 vessels had to wait to pass through the 193km (120-mile) canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe.
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