The owners of Ever Given super container ship have agreed to pay $540 million to Egypt's Suez Canal Authority in compensation for the vessel running aground and blocking the waterway in March, a source close to the negotiations said.
The authority announced an agreement had been reached on Sunday but did not reveal the settlement amount. The deal will be signed and the ship unmoored at a ceremony on Wednesday in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia.
The Ever Given, a 400-metre container ship, ran aground while traversing the canal on March 23, blocking maritime traffic through the vital waterway for six days before it was freed following a massive salvage operation with expert crews from around the world assisting. Canal authorities had detained the ship as they pursued compensation for the incident.
An admiral stationed at the Suez Canal, who attended many of the negotiations, told The National that the SCA would receive compensation of $540m, with an initial payment of $240m and the balance to be paid over the following year.
The authority will also receive a new tugboat to replace one lost during the six-day rescue effort that also caused the death of an Egyptian crew member.
The admiral described the settlement as a win for the country, saying that “Egypt’s rights were upheld” after the months-long dispute with the vessel owner, Japanese shipping company Shoei Kisen Kaisha.
The SCA initially sought $916m in compensation from the owners but lowered their demand to $550m.
SCA lawyer Khaled Abu Bakr said that despite the ship's owner also contesting the reduced sum, the SCA did not budge, feeling that it was a fair amount for the "serious" structural damages and revenue losses sustained during the blockage.
Nearly 10 per cent of global trade flows through the shipping route every year and navigation fees earn Egypt billions of dollars in revenue a year.
Mr Abu Bakr said that once the agreement is signed, the SCA will drop its lawsuit against the ship’s owner and allow the Ever Given to leave the Great Bitter Lake where it has been moored since it was refloated in late March.
The Ismailia court hearing the dispute repeatedly postponed its verdict to give the SCA and the ship's owner time to reach a settlement out of court.
According to the admiral, the compensation will go towards repairing structural damage to the canal, as well as fixing the pollution caused by the Ever Given emptying its ballast water in the waterway, a highly polluting act that killed much of the marine life in a portion of the canal.
The settlement also covers the loss of revenue the SCA sustained as hundreds of ships were either forced to wait in place for the canal to be cleared or take the longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip.
SCA Chairman Admiral Osama Rabie said the authority did not want to lose the ship’s owners as a client in addition to not wanting to affect bilateral relations between Egypt and Japan.
Former captain Sameh El Wakeel told The National that the negotiations were a very precarious endeavour for the SCA, which had to implement the utmost sensitivities to ensure that the dispute ended with no enmity.
“Millions are breathing a sigh of relief now that this debacle is over. But what’s even better for Egypt is that it ended so amicably. I think the SCA’s handling of the situation has restored many Egyptians’ faith in the nation and its ability to protect its interests in a civilised and diplomatic way,” he said.
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Honeymoonish
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PSG's line up
GK: Alphonse Areola (youth academy)
Defence - RB: Dani Alves (free transfer); CB: Marquinhos (€31.4 million); CB: Thiago Silva (€42m); LB: Layvin Kurzawa (€23m)
Midfield - Angel di Maria (€47m); Adrien Rabiot (youth academy); Marco Verratti (€12m)
Forwards - Neymar (€222m); Edinson Cavani (€63m); Kylian Mbappe (initial: loan; to buy: €180m)
Total cost: €440.4m (€620.4m if Mbappe makes permanent move)
Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
match info
Union Berlin 0
Bayern Munich 1 (Lewandowski 40' pen, Pavard 80')
Man of the Match: Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich)
The biog
Hobbies: Salsa dancing “It's in my blood” and listening to music in different languages
Favourite place to travel to: “Thailand, as it's gorgeous, food is delicious, their massages are to die for!”
Favourite food: “I'm a vegetarian, so I can't get enough of salad.”
Favourite film: “I love watching documentaries, and am fascinated by nature, animals, human anatomy. I love watching to learn!”
Best spot in the UAE: “I fell in love with Fujairah and anywhere outside the big cities, where I can get some peace and get a break from the busy lifestyle”
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The specs: 2018 Genesis G70
Price, base / as tested: Dh155,000 / Dh205,000
Engine: 3.3-litre, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 370hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 510Nm @ 1,300rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.6L / 100km
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company%20profile
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The%20specs
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5