International Suez Canal Crisis 2021: Ever Given Report Highlights Suez Canal Pilots’ Role in Grounding

[Thrawn33]

Can't wait to see the investigation results.

 

[MicroBrew]

Can't wait to see the investigation results.

The Egyptians will blame the Capatain, the ship owner, the charter company etc.. everyone except their Canal pilot.

 

[Armbars]

Well done @Arkain2K

Any major thread like this is always in safe hands when you start it. As always very informative and regularly updated.

 

[Thrawn33]

The Egyptians will blame the Capatain, the ship owner, the charter company etc.. everyone except their Canal pilot.

I'm sure they will, but:

Outside of the Panama canal the ships Master is still responsible for the safe navigation of his/her ship, embarked pilot or not.

 

[MicroBrew]

Outside of the Panama canal the ships Master is still responsible for the safe navigation of his/her ship.

The Suez Canal authority requires all ships transiting through to use their Pilots. The ship's master is not the expert in navigating the Canal, the pilot is. While the Master has ultimate authority, what is he gona do, take authority away from the pilot while in the Canal?? The master is caught between the provebrial rock and a hard place.

 

[Thrawn33]

The Suez Canal authority requires all ships transiting through to use their Pilots. The ship's master is not the expert in navigating the Canal, the pilot is. While the Master has ultimate authority, what is he gona do, take authority away from the pilot while in the Canal?? The master is caught between the provebrial rock and a hard place.

For sure, would take a skipper with some serious balls and an airtight accusation of negligence. This will be an interesting court case.

 

[SL1200]

Problems that involve water...? Or ships.. Call the Dutch!

the Netherlands for the win!

(sorry.. shit likes this makes me patriotic lol)

 

[Arkain2K]

Investigation into Ever Given begins
Crew expected to be interviewed by Panama flag registry representatives on Tuesday and hand over vessel’s data recorder​

Suez Canal Authority, shipmanager and shipowner also expected to conduct parallel investigations as they all pledge to co-operate with all authorities.

Now the grounded Ever Given has been refloated, attention will turn to investigating what went wrong and the varying degrees of responsibility held for the casualty that led to the six-day blockage of the Suez Canal.

As Ever Given flew the Panama flag, the world’s largest registry will undertake the most significant casualty investigation as required under international maritime conventions.

The conclusions and findings will be reported to the International Maritime Organization.

As yet, the registry has not made any statement on the timing of any investigations and when any preliminary findings could be available.

The Suez Canal Authority will likely run a parallel investigation, as will the containership’s shipmanager, Bernard Schulte Shipmanagers, and the protection and indemnity club UK P&I, that will cover liabilities arising from the vessel being stuck.

Crucial to determining what went wrong will be data retrieved from the Voyage Data Recorder, the maritime equivalent of the airline industry’s ‘black box’ in aircraft.

Lloyd’s List understands the VDR has been retrieved and the data has been saved for investigators.

The shipmanagers have been asked to hand this over to a representative of the Panamanian registry when he or she has arrived in Egypt and is in a position to begin their investigation.

The representative was initially delayed by quarantine and immigration difficulties but is expected to board the vessel on Tuesday night from Ismalia, on the west bank of the Suez Canal, where the vessel was being towed.

There, statements and interviews from the crew will be taken, other information gathered and access to the VDR provided, at least three sources familiar with the investigation process told Lloyd’s List.

There has been little insight into possible causes, and contradictory reports.

Two canal pilots were on board the vessel, which was fifth in the convoy transit at the time of the accident according to the vessel’s shipmanager, which attributed the casualty to winds blowing Ever Given off course and was adamant there had been no mechanical or electrical failure.

The canal authority’s executive initially said that winds were not responsible.

Lloyd’s List determined that winds at the time of the accident were about 30 kts and navigation rules permitted a vessel this size to sail under such conditions.

BSM as well as the Japanese-owned shipowners and the UK P&I Club will also feed into this central investigation, as will the Suez Canal Authority.

BSM will fully co-operate with all authorities in any investigations, a company spokesman told Lloyd’s List.

UK P&I said similar, with both declining to confirm whether their representatives had reached the vessel.

https://lloydslist.maritimeintellig...Investigation-into-Ever-Given-casualty-begins

 

[Arkain2K]

So basically no matter what the investigation may reveals, Egyptian law says ship owners and their insurers have to assume all the liabilities for any mishaps that may happen during the transit that they pay $100,000-$300,000 for.

---

Suez Canal pilots come under scrutiny after grounding of ship
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Adam Taylor and Ruby Mellen | March 29, 2021​

ISMAILIA, Egypt — With the Ever Given freed and on the move, the spotlight is now likely to turn to the investigation of how the vessel got wedged into the Suez Canal, leading to billions of dollars in losses globally.

While strong winds during a dust storm are widely seen as a major factor, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie of the Suez Canal Authority told reporters that the investigation will not focus just on the weather and that human and technical errors cannot be ruled out.

Investigators are likely to examine the performance of the two Egyptian canal pilots aboard the Ever Given and their relationship with the ship’s captain.

Were there any communications problems? How experienced were the pilots and the captain in navigating the canal? And what challenges did they face in moving a ship of such massive size — as big as the Empire State Building and near the maximum size allowed in the canal — along a single-lane artery of the waterway?

A high-ranking canal pilot working for the Suez Canal Authority said the two pilots aboard the Ever Given were both senior chief pilots with 30-plus years of experience. “They had the experience and qualifications to guide this ship,” he said.

The senior pilot said the job of navigating ships through canals had become more taxing in recent years. The vessels today are much larger and carry more cargo than those traversing the canal in the 1990s. Back then, he recalled, an oil tanker had blocked the canal and a single tugboat towed the vessel and cleared the waterway.

“The ships today are bigger than they used to be,” the pilot said. “This is something new. We haven’t seen this before.”

Strong winds, he said, could have easily propelled the Ever Given toward the bank, leaving the canal blocked. “This is something that happens to massive ships of this kind,” said the senior pilot, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to the media. “They can run aground when winds exceed 30 or 40 knots.”

Contrary to their titles, the pilots do not actually steer the vessel in the Suez Canal. The pilot serves more as a consultant, using his experience and practical knowledge of the canal to give advice, for instance on how to maneuver the vessel or what course to steer.

The captain has to be present at all times on the bridge and give the orders to the helm, to the engines and tugs, taking into account the pilot’s directions, according to international maritime law. The captain has to keep the pilot informed of any problems with the handling of the vessel “so that the pilot might be in a position to give better advice to control the navigation and movement of the vessel,” the law reads. Ultimately, “the responsibility falls completely” on the captain, it adds.

“The captain has the sole responsibility for directing the ship,” the senior pilot said. “The pilots can offer their guidance and opinions, but the captain can choose to refuse it.”

Among some seafarers, the role of the pilots can be somewhat mysterious.

Rose George, author of “Deep Sea and Foreign Going,” a book that recounts a five-week journey aboard a container ship from Britain to Singapore, said that when she traveled through the canal in 2010, it was unclear what the Suez crew’s purpose was.

“We had a Suez crew on board, which is obligatory,” she said on “BBC News Hour” on Sunday. “You pay a fortune to go through the Suez Canal, about a $100,000 to $300,000, but you have to take on a Suez pilot.”

“The canal authority says you have to take this crew on board,” George said. “You have to take a special electrician who has to operate what they call a Suez Canal projector, which is a massive headlamp that you stick on the foxhole at the front of the ship on the bow, and that’s in case anything happens. And then there’s also a few other crew who apparently have special rope skills.”

She said the captain on the medium-size container ship she was on had been at sea for 42 years, having crossed the canal more times than he could remember. He said he had “never seen this crew do anything except sit in their special crew cabin,” George recounted.

Gregory Tylawsky, a captain with the California-based Maritime Expert Group, said that it was too early to say what caused the Ever Given’s grounding, but he offered, “There is no evidence at this time to indicate responsibility attached to any individuals, including the Suez Canal pilots on board the Ever Given at the time of the incident.”

Even if pilot error is found to have contributed to the accident, Egyptian law makes clear that pilots are not liable for any damage during their watch of the ship.

In an explanatory video posted Monday, Mark Phillip Laurilla, the chief engineer of a container ship who blogs about his experiences under the name Chief MAKOi, acknowledged that may seem unfair but said it is the same all over the world. “Whatever the case, all liabilities point towards the vessel, which means the ship owners along with their insurers are in for quite a ride,” Laurilla said.

Tylawsky said he was confident the industry would quickly learn from the incident. He noted that ships were required to have doubled hulls after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Just on Saturday, he said, a ship in Istanbul suffered a 230-foot gash in a docking incident.

“In ships of older design, the location of this rupture would be in alignment with the ships’ fuel tanks, thus creating an oil spill,” Tylawsky said. “This is just one of many examples in our industry.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/29/suez-canal-pilots/

 

[Supereem]

The Suez Canal authority requires all ships transiting through to use their Pilots. The ship's master is not the expert in navigating the Canal, the pilot is. While the Master has ultimate authority, what is he gona do, take authority away from the pilot while in the Canal?? The master is caught between the provebrial rock and a hard place.

Legally the pilot is an agent of the owner, so any negligence on their part makes the owner liable.

This is ancient custom. Would a port risk using pilots if they could be found liable?

 

[Jim Eagle]

Imagine how much shit was dumped in that canal

 

[Arkain2K]

Gonna be another week before all the backlogged ships could be cleared, since the Suez canal can only handle one-way traffic at a time.

 

[Arkain2K]

Suez Canal fallout: What caused the Ever Given's grounding? Answer will be expensive for some
JOHN BACON | USA TODAY | March 30, 2021​

​

Ships once again glided through the Suez Canal on Tuesday, but the impact of the calamity that halted travel through one of the world's most vital shipping passages will be felt for weeks, months or even years.

The mammoth cargo ship Ever Given, wedged across a narrow section of the canal for a week, was dislodged Monday. More than 400 ships backed up by the incident are moving again, but catching up could take a week or more, experts said.

That's just the beginning.

The first priority is normalizing the global shipping industry. Ahmed Bashir, head of Global Execution Centers for global shipping giant Maersk, said his company had 34 ships stalled in the backup. As the company is notified when its ships can pass through, Bashir said, his crisis team works to mitigate the delays as much as possible.

The canal carries more than 10% of world trade, and the worldwide cost of the blockage has been estimated at up to $10 billion a day – about $400 million an hour. Bashir warned the shipping industry will "feel the ripple of this closure for some weeks to come."

"It will take some time for the effects of this incident to be fully absorbed," Bashir said in a video message to customers. "Aside from the delays directly caused by the closure, there is an inevitable bunching of vessels that occurs as they call their next ports."

William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute, said the incident is about more than getting goods to their destinations.

“The supply chain shortages that cause assembly lines to shut down – that will have a greater impact,” Lee said.

While Egypt's Suez Canal Authority works to clear the shipping backlog, investigators comb the Ever Given for clues to what caused the grounding. The Panamanian-flagged vessel weighs 220,000 tons, is nearly a quarter-mile long and carries 20,000 containers. The ship spun around and became stuck in the sand in a windstorm March 23.

Workers dredged 30,000 cubic meters of sand – enough to fill about a dozen Olympic-size swimming pools. The ship's stern was freed Sunday, and the bow was removed from the canal bank Monday. A dozen tugboats dragged the ship back into the middle of the canal.

Tuesday, the Ever Given was seen to be stationary in the canal lake from the town of Fayed, still stacked with containers, as other vessels navigated around it.

The ship "came out intact and it has no problems," the canal authority said.

"This was the result of successful push and tow maneuvers, which led to the restoration of 80% of the vessel’s direction," it said in a statement.

Egyptian government officials, insurers and shippers await reports on what caused the grounding. A determination of fault will probably lead to years of litigation to recoup the costs of repairing the ship, fixing the canal and reimbursing shippers for the disruptions, said Capt. John Konrad, founder and CEO of the shipping news website gCaptain.com.

The ship is owned by a Japanese firm, operated by a Taiwanese shipper and flagged in Panama.

“This ship is a multinational conglomeration,” Konrad said.

The ship’s owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, said Tuesday that it would aid the investigation but declined to discuss possible causes of the grounding, citing the probe.

Shoei Kisen Kaisha is covered with $3 billion in liability insurance through 13 Protection and Indemnity Clubs. Those clubs are not-for-profit mutual insurers used by the majority of global shipping firms. Global legal firm Clyde said the Ever Given’s owner probably would pay Egypt’s canal authority for the assistance rendered to the vessel. The authority could fine the Ever Given.

“We anticipate a detailed investigation will follow, which will determine the cause,” the firm said. "Evidently, the cause will impact upon the legal liabilities of the ship and cargo interests.”

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/7058146002

 

[ElKarlo]

So basically no matter what the investigation may reveals, Egyptian law says ship owners and their insurers have to assume all the liabilities for any mishaps that may happen during the transit that they pay $100,000-$300,000 for.

---

Suez Canal pilots come under scrutiny after grounding of ship
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Adam Taylor and Ruby Mellen | March 29, 2021​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/29/suez-canal-pilots/

Interesting.
I do think the new Suez maxes are far too large and this has shown that wind alone can destabilize a ship. Egypt should have keep the suez maxes as was before expanding the canal. All those containers make for a fantastic sail if the wind is wrong

 

[ocfightfan]

Women drivers, amirite?

 

[HeffDoesWant]

Global Trade Gets Rerouted With Suez Canal Still Blocked by Ship
By Salma El Wardany, Ann Koh, Hanna Hoikkala, and Jinshan Hong | March 26, 2021

Course of Suezmax tanker Marlin Santorini on March 23-26
​

An abrupt starboard turn in the Atlantic Ocean is the perfect illustration of the trade disruption caused by the blockage of one of the world’s most important waterways.

The Marlin Santorini, a tanker capable of carrying 1 million barrels of oil, switched destinations away from the Suez Canal, turned south and appears to be heading around Africa.

The diversion could add about 6,000 miles to the ship’s journey and something like $300,000 in fuel costs, but it’s just one of hundreds of individual setbacks suffered this week by vessels that carry everything from raw materials to finished goods around the world.

Swedish furniture giant Ikea and yellow bulldozer-maker Caterpillar Inc. are among the many international companies facing supply-chain headaches. The crisis is buoying natural gas prices in Europe, delaying wind farms in Asia and could soon hit your instant coffee.

With the container ship Ever Given likely to remain stuck in the Suez Canal until next week, it’s only the start of the rearranging of global trade.

“If it can’t be resumed in a week, it will be horrible,” said Mark Ma, the owner of Seabay International Freight Forwarding Ltd., a company that handles Chinese goods sold on platforms such as Amazon.com Inc. and has 20 to 30 containers on the ships waiting to transit the canal. “We will see freight fares spike again. The products are delayed, containers can’t return to China and we can’t deliver more goods.”

​

The crisis comes as companies are already battling the strain of adapting supply chains to cope with a pandemic-related e-commerce boom. Covid-19 regulations at ports are slowing the passage of some products. While consumers and companies have weathered these problems, the Suez incident promises fresh headwinds and higher costs in the weeks ahead, particularly in Europe.

P&F Industries Inc., a U.S. maker of pneumatic hand tools, said the Suez shutdown exacerbates delays to trade that have caused the firm to add six to eight weeks to expected delivery times. Germany’s Enercon GmbH expects delays in the shipment of wind turbine components from Europe to projects in Asia, a spokesperson said. Ikea said it’s considering all options to ensure availability of products such as flat-pack beds and couches, while Caterpillar is said to be considering airlifting products if necessary.

The task of re-floating the 200,000-ton container ship called Ever Given, which is still firmly wedged across the vital maritime trade route, will require about a week of work and potentially longer, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified. Rescue efforts had initially been expected to last only a couple of days.

Work by tugs and diggers has so far been unsuccessful. As the rescue teams toil away, the waiting queue of oceangoing carriers loaded with billions of dollars worth of oil and consumer goods has risen to more than 300 from 186 on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg data.

Should cargo need to be unloaded from the stranded vessel, or extensive repairs made to the canal itself, “then the downtime could certainly last at least two weeks,” according to Randy Giveans, senior vice president of Equity Research for Energy Maritime at Jefferies LLC. The Ever Given could hold almost $1 billion of goods, according to IHS Markit Ltd.

The halt of traffic through the Suez Canal is dealing another blow to global supply chains that were already suffering.

The world’s biggest flow of merchandise -- between China and the U.S –- has faced nearly five months of bottlenecks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Importers have been waiting several weeks for arriving cargo, with the knock-on effect that exporters are unable to secure empty steel boxes needed to deliver their shipments abroad.

The fear now is that the Suez incident will exacerbate Europe’s logistical challenges, resulting in canceled sailings, container shortages and higher freight rates.

Vessels that had been scheduled to traverse the Suez Canal are beginning costly and time-consuming detours around Africa as the shipping sector scrambles to keep deliveries moving. South Korea’s HMM Co. instructed a container ship that departed the U.K. on Monday to divert around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the gridlock.

At least seven liquefied natural gas vessels have had routes adjusted away from the canal, according to Kpler analyst Rebecca Chia, and major shippers including A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Hapag-Lloyd AG are also studying detours. Shipping costs are also surging -- the price of sending a 40-foot container from China to Europe has almost quadrupled from a year ago.

The prospect of a long blockage has already boosted European natural gas prices, as cargoes laden with the liquefied form of the fuel destined for the region face delays. About 2 million barrels a day of oil flows are being held up, according to Braemar ACM Shipbroking.

Bulk carriers that ship products from coffee to iron ore have also been snarled up, potentially limiting the availability of some foodstuffs.

“The global food system is already under pressure from Covid,” Tim Benton, research director in emerging risks at Chatham House in London and a food security expert, said in an interview. The trade disruption “adds a further straw to the camel’s back.”

A list of cargo aboard a HMM Co. vessel waiting outside the canal to return to Asia gives an indication of the sweep of industries caught up in the disruption, with goods on board including wood, machinery, frozen beef, paper, powdered milk, furniture, beer, frozen pork, auto components, chocolate, and cosmetics.

Ships currently outside of the Red Sea planning to use the Suez Canal will need to decide whether to reroute around Africa, adding 10 to 15 days to their voyages, according to Giveans. Ships queuing on either end of the Suez Canal area are likely to wait to determine how long the passage will be closed before taking a decision to divert, he said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...erouted-with-suez-canal-still-blocked-by-ship

Wonder how much that decision cost.

Also that image appears to confirm the earlier suggestion about only part of the channel being deep

 

[Arkain2K]

'Rush to judgment'?: Costly Suez Canal calamity fuels support for Indian crew of Ever Given
JOHN BACON | USA TODAY | March 31, 2021​

Investigators in and under the massive container ship Ever Given intensified efforts Wednesday to determine what caused the vessel to run aground amid concerns the Indian crew could be blamed for the costly incident.

Global economic losses from the shutdown have been estimated at up to $10 billion per day, prompting intense interest in determining the cause of the calamity – and anyone who could have been at fault.

David Heindel, chairman of the International Transport Workers' Federation, cautioned against a "rush to judgment," adding that the investigation should examine whether crew fatigue played a role.

"Too often, seafarers are unfairly blamed for incidents at sea," Heindel said. "When proper investigations are conducted we are able to stand back and see the systematic factors which drive bad outcomes."

The Panamanian-flagged, Japanese-owned, Taiwanese-operated ship became caught in high winds and a sandstorm as it navigated a narrow stretch of the canal March 23. The 1,300-foot-long, 220,000-ton ship turned and the bow went aground on the canal's eastern bank, the stern on the western bank.

The incident halted more than 400 ships before the Ever Given ship was finally freed Monday with the aid of more than a dozen tugboats and favorable tides.

The chairman of the Egyptian-owned Suez Canal Authority has said the weather issues were not the main reasons the ship grounded.

“There may have been technical or human errors,” Osama Rabie told reporters. “All of these factors will become apparent in the investigation.”

The Indian government and its seafarer's organizations fear the crew of 25 could be "made scapegoats," the Times reported, citing a senior person associated with the nation's shipping industry.

The National Union of Seafarers of India vowed solidarity with the crew.

"We await the impartial inquiry to the incident," Abdulgani Serang, the union's general secretary, said in an email to USA TODAY. "In unflinching solidarity, NUSI stands behind the seafarers of Ever Given, in support whenever required and in whatever manner required."

Divers scouring the underside of the ship Wednesday found some damage to the bow but nothing sufficiently severe to cause the ship to become immobilized, officials said. The two senior canal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, told the Associated Press that “slight to medium” damage was found at the vessel’s bulbous bow.

Abhijeet Sangle, head of the All India Seafarers and General Workers Union, told the Times of India the investigation will determine "who’s at fault; the ship captain or the canal pilot who helped steer the big vessel through the narrow canal."

The ship's operator, Berhard Schulte Ship Management, said its initial investigations ruled out mechanical or engine failure. And BSSM lauded it's crew.

“The hard work and tireless professionalism of the master and crew are greatly appreciated," the firm said in a statement.

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/4818534001

 

[Arkain2K]

Suez Canal blockage: Captain of Ever Given not aiding probe; calamity's cost tops $1B
By JOHN BACON | USA TODAY | 1:13 pm EDT April 1, 2021​

The cost of blocking shipping for almost a week through one of the most crucial waterways on earth apparently comes in at right around $1 billion.

And that's just the bill Egypt could soon be trying to collect. It does not include damages for the owners of more than 400 boats delayed by the calamity on the Suez Canal, nor compensation that could be sought by companies whose materials or products were on those boats.

Lt. Gen. Ossama Rabei, head of Suez Canal Authority, told Egypt's Sada ElBalad news that Egypt will likely seek $1 billion in compensation for physical and financial damages resulting from the grounding of the massive cargo ship Ever Given. Rabei said the compensation would cover losses from transit fees, the cost of six days of dredging and tugboat activity – and damage to the canal from the dredging.

“This is the right of the country," Rabie said. "It should get its due."

Rabei said the ship's captain has yet to respond to several demands by the canal authority, including surrender of the black box and documents sought for the investigation.

Ever Given will not be allowed to continue on it journey to the Dutch city of Rotterdam until the probe is completed, Rabei added.

Sayed Sheisha, a canal authority consultant, told Egypt's Extra News the authority's investigation will determine whether the ship's captain followed the instructions of the Suez Canal guide. He said the ship has been involved in two previous accidents but provided no details.

Sheisha said that if the captain and others don't cooperate, the ship will be temporarily confiscated and a civil lawsuit filed that could drag on for years.

Sheisha, however, speculated that a solution such as agreeing on compensations could be reached within days. The fate of the ship's 25-person Indian crew had not been determined.

The ship's owner, Japan's Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., has said it will aid in the investigation. Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp., which operates the ship, said it’s not responsible for cargo delays.

The canal carries more than 10% of world trade, and the global cost of the closure was estimated at up to $10 billion a day.

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/4833205001

 

[Arkain2K]

Egypt seeks financial settlement with Ever Given’s owner for Suez Canal blockage
By SAMY MAGDY | 6 Apr 2021

ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) — The Suez Canal chief said Tuesday that authorities are negotiating a financial settlement with the owners of a massive vessel that blocked the crucial waterway for nearly a week.

Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie told The Associated Press he hoped talks with Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the Japanese owner of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given, will conclude without a lawsuit.

“We are discussing with them a peaceful resolution to the matter without resorting to the judiciary,” he said. He maintained that bringing the case before a court would be more harmful to the firm than settling with the canal’s management.

The massive cargo ship is currently in one of the canal’s holding lakes, where authorities and the ship’s managers say an investigation is ongoing.

Rabie also said Tuesday that investigators have analyzed data from the Voyage Data Recorder, also known as a vessel’s black box, but no conclusion had yet been reached on what led the Ever Given to run aground.

Last week, salvage teams freed the Ever Given, ending a crisis that had clogged one of the world’s most vital waterways and halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce.

The Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe ran aground on March 23 in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Asian Sinai Peninsula.

Its bow was touching the eastern wall, while its stern looked lodged against the western wall — an extraordinary event that experts said they had never heard of happening in the canal’s 150-year history.

“The case that we had was complicated and nontraditional, so there should have been a nontraditional solution,” Rabie said.

He said they relied on dredgers to remove sand from underneath the hulking vessel. Then, a flotilla of tugboats, aided by the tides, wrenched the bulbous bow of Ever Given from the canal’s sandy bank, where it had been firmly lodged.

The unprecedented six-day shutdown, which raised fears of extended delays, goods shortages and rising costs for consumers, added to strain on the shipping industry already under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt...th-ever-givens-owner-for-suez-canal-blockage/

 

[Arkain2K]

Suez Canal blockage: Investigators analyzing Ever Given's black box that could hold key to costly grounding
JOHN BACON | USA TODAY | April 7, 2021​

The investigation into the grounding of a massive container ship that blocked access to the Suez Canal for almost a week has turned to the black box aboard the Ever Given.

Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said an analysis of the ship's data is underway and should provide crucial details surrounding the grounding. An initial report on the costly accident could be released this week, he said.

Rabie also repeated his claim that the grounding cost his agency and Egypt $1 billion. That does not include losses faced by owners of more than 400 ships delayed by the blockage or the losses to owners of cargo on those ships. The blockage held up an estimated $400 million per hour in international trade, according to the German insurer Allianz.

The Ever Given is docked in a canal holding lake while the investigation takes place. Rabie suggested that failure of the ship's owners to reach an accord on damages could trigger court proceedings and delay for a year or more release of the cargo – almost 20,000, 20-foot long containers carrying goods valued at more than $3 billion.

“We are discussing with them a peaceful resolution to the matter without resorting to the judiciary," he said, saying Egypt must recoup costs from the work done to free the ship plus suspension of navigation in the canal.

Lawrence Brennan, who teaches maritime law at Fordham Law School, says black boxes should have data involving the ship’s engines, machinery and navigation. Other recorders probably could provide conversations from the bridge, he said.

"There likely are going to be multiple cases in various national courts which have different rules that sides expect will favor their interests," Brennan told USA TODAY.

But the ships that sat in line for days awaiting the canal's reopening should not hold out much hope of compensation, he added.

"Generally, delay alone absent physical damages is not recoverable," he said.

The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, provides passage to about 12% of the world's cargo. More than 18,000 ships passed through the waterway last year.

The Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, apparently spun in high winds while navigating a narrow section of the canal on March 23. The 1,300-foot-long, 220,000-ton ship's bow went aground on the canal's eastern bank, the stern on the western bank. It took six days of dredging, favorable tides and a dozen tugboats pulling to free the vessel.

The ship is a multinational concern – owned by a Japanese firm, operated by a Taiwanese shipper, flagged in Panama and operated by an Indian crew.

Japanese shipowner Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. said it would "fully cooperate" with the investigation. Legal battles have already begun. Shoei Kisen, in an effort to limit liability, filed suit against the ship’s Taiwan-based operator Evergreen Marine Corp. last week in the United Kingdom’s High Court.

Evergreen has denied responsibility for any financial losses caused by the incident. Company president Eric Hsieh said agreements signed with customers do not guarantee arrival times for shipments.

Shoei Kisen also declared "general average," a maritime law principle providing that if an intentional sacrifice is made for the safety of the individuals and cargo, all parties involved proportionally share in the losses. The idea is to keep the crew from wasting time in an emergency deciding whose cargo should be sacrificed.

The general average adjuster uses a complicated formula to determine which losses qualify for general average, the total costs of the incident and the amount each party owes. Final settlement of general average can take months or even years.

The firm WK Webster said it has instructed an expert marine surveyor to investigate the cause of the grounding of the vessel "so that we may evaluate the merits of any potential defenses to contribution in (general average) that may be available to cargo interests."

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/7094266002