AN Egypt court has adjourned the case on the container ship Ever Given that blocked the Suez Canal to allow for more time to negotiate for a compensation, reports Bloomberg.
The court in Ismailia town postponed the hearing to June 20 after requests from lawyers representing the Suez Canal Authority and the owner of the 400-metre-long Ever Given.
The authority was claiming more than more than US$916 million in damages linked to the waterway's six-day closure in March, which roiled shipping markets. But it lowered the figure in out-of-court negotiations to $550 million, saying it had miscalculated the value of the cargoes aboard the ship. The vessel's insurers said the demand is still too high.
'There are endeavours to reach a settlement and because they are good clients, we are asking the court to postpone, to negotiate and study the offer submitted by the owners,' Nabil Zidan, the lawyer for the Suez Canal Authority, said in the court.
'Negotiations are on and there's flexibility from both sides,' said Ahmed Abu Shanab, the ship owner's lawyer.
Ahead of the hearing on Sunday, Mr Zidan said the Suez Canal Authority will recalculate its claim, without elaborating on what that means for the lawsuit or what the new figure will be.
The Ever Given's owner has previously offered to pay $150 million, according to the authority, which says that doesn't cover losses of transit fees, damage to the waterway and costs of equipment and labour.
The Ever Given is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd and was freed on March 29 after a salvage operation and sailed to the Great Bitter Lake, about halfway along the canal, where it has been kept ever since.
More than 400 vessels were held up by the blockage, though most were able to pass through the channel soon after it was reopened. Egypt in May started dredging to widen the southern end of the canal where the Ever Given got stuck.
SeaNews Turkey
The court in Ismailia town postponed the hearing to June 20 after requests from lawyers representing the Suez Canal Authority and the owner of the 400-metre-long Ever Given.
The authority was claiming more than more than US$916 million in damages linked to the waterway's six-day closure in March, which roiled shipping markets. But it lowered the figure in out-of-court negotiations to $550 million, saying it had miscalculated the value of the cargoes aboard the ship. The vessel's insurers said the demand is still too high.
'There are endeavours to reach a settlement and because they are good clients, we are asking the court to postpone, to negotiate and study the offer submitted by the owners,' Nabil Zidan, the lawyer for the Suez Canal Authority, said in the court.
'Negotiations are on and there's flexibility from both sides,' said Ahmed Abu Shanab, the ship owner's lawyer.
Ahead of the hearing on Sunday, Mr Zidan said the Suez Canal Authority will recalculate its claim, without elaborating on what that means for the lawsuit or what the new figure will be.
The Ever Given's owner has previously offered to pay $150 million, according to the authority, which says that doesn't cover losses of transit fees, damage to the waterway and costs of equipment and labour.
The Ever Given is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd and was freed on March 29 after a salvage operation and sailed to the Great Bitter Lake, about halfway along the canal, where it has been kept ever since.
More than 400 vessels were held up by the blockage, though most were able to pass through the channel soon after it was reopened. Egypt in May started dredging to widen the southern end of the canal where the Ever Given got stuck.
SeaNews Turkey