Egypt Fined $13.3 Trillion For Crashing In Suez Canal, Ever Given Insurance Ask Details

Kapal kontainer Ever Given (Wikimedia Commons/Robert Schwemmer for NOAA's National Ocean Service)

JAKARTA - Egyptian authorities 'detained' and fined the giant container ship Ever Given, linked to the sinking of a ship in the Suez Canal and causing obstacles for nearly a week, Tuesday, April 13, local time.

An Egyptian court ordered the Japanese ship's owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, to pay a fine of $916 million or about IDR13.3 trillion in compensation as a result of losses suffered during the ship's shipwreck.

Addressing local media Al Ahram, CNN said the bill also included maintenance costs and the cost of international rescue operations, to quickly float back Ever Given at the time.

Shoei Kisen Kaisha said insurance companies and lawyers were working on compensation claims, and declined to comment further.

UK Club, the insurance company for Protection and Redress for Ever Given, said on Tuesday it had responded to a claim from the Suez Canal Authority for $916 million and questioned its basis.

"Despite the large number of mostly unsupported claims, ever given owners and insurers have negotiated in good faith with SCA. On April 12, a carefully considered and generous offer was made to the SCA to settle their claim", said the statement.

Uk Club says they are guarantors of Ever Given for certain third party obligations, including claims of disruption or infrastructure problems, but not guarantors for the ship itself or containers.

A further statement explains why UK Club believes the magnitude of the claim is invalid.

"SCA has not provided detailed justification for this extraordinarily large claim, which includes a claim of $300 million for a ship rescue bonus and a $300 million claim for reputation loss", the statement said.

It is known that the collapse of Ever Given did not result in pollution and no injuries were reported. The ship was re-floated after six days of failure on March 23, and the Suez Canal resumed commercial operations immediately. More than 400 ships blocked from passing through important cruise lines

"The claims made by the SCA also do not include professional rescue claims for their rescue services that are expected to be received by their owners and underwriters separately", said the UK Club in a statement.