The Egyptian authorities could ask up to $1 billion in damages for clearing the way to the Ever Given from the Suez Canal. The $1 billion price was calculated based on the canal revenue losses, the money spent on the manpower hours of the 800 rescuers, and the equipment and Machinery. It’s not clear yet who will pay for the bill.
“We’ll reach over a billion dollars in compensation,” Osama Rabie, the chairman and managing director of the state-owned Suez Canal Authority, told Egypt’s Sada El Balad channel on Wednesday evening.
“Egypt will ask for a fair amount,” Rabie said, according to a CNBC News translation, without specifying who might be liable to pay.
“We saved them so much by rescuing the ship without any major damage or losses. The whole ship could’ve been lost,” he added.
The 200,000 ton Ever Given mega-container carrier refloated on Monday. This followed some daunting efforts from the rescuers. The incident held more than $9 billion global trade a day. Additionally, over 422 vessels carrying goods such as crude oil were blocked for more than 6 days in the canal.
