(3 minutes read)
· Egypt is claiming US$ 900 million in compensation after the blockade of the Suez Canal, which had disrupted the 10% to 15% of world trade for more than a week, leading to heavy losses to various stakeholders
· According to SCA, Egypt lost between US$ 12 million and US$ 15 million per day due to the closure of the canal
· Canal is one of the main sources of income for Egypt. The passage brought in around US$ 5.7 billion in Cairo in 2019-2020
Egypt is claiming US$ 900 million in compensation after the blockade of the Suez Canal, which had disrupted 10% to 15% of world trade for more than a week, leading to heavy losses to various stakeholders. This was reported by the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) had reported on public television that negotiations were on to obtain compensation for the damage suffered when Ever Given, the ill fated cargo ship, was stuck in the canal. The paper said that the blockade had happened not because of the doings of the canal authorities. The canal authorities have said that the negotiations were still on but many complex issues were to be ironed out such as matters related to insurance and quantum of compensation.
The authorities have indicated that Egypt wanted the payment of US$ 900 million from the ship, but not paid by the ship owners. The Panamanian registered ship -Ever Given -was seized due to the non-payment of the said sum as pronounced by the economic court as damages caused to the canal. The traffic resumed on March 29 after the ship was refloated with the help of international experts. More than 400 ships had been stranded north and south of the Isthmus for
six days.
According to SCA, Egypt lost between US$ 12 million and US$ 15 million per day due to the closure of the canal. Canal is one of the main sources of income for Egypt. The passage brought in around US$ 5.7 billion in Cairo in 2019-2020. According to insurer Allianz, each day of downtime resulted in overall losses of six to ten billion dollars.
