Ever Given’s Insurer Disappointed With The Crew Detention Ruling As the Ship Stays Stuck

Last Tuesday, a local Egyptian court made headlines as they had upheld the decision to hold the Ever Given crew as a ransom for compensation. And now the insurers of the ship have expressed their disappointment and concern regarding the ruling.

The court had rejected the Japanese shipowner’s appeal against the detention of the crew and the ship. The court has ruled in the SCA’s favour making it possible to detain the crew.

The ship chartered by the Evergreen company had run aground on the Suez Canal back on 23rd March and got relocated on 29th March. Since then the ship has been anchored at the Great Bitter Lake outside the canal.

While the investigation went on and the lawsuits have been filed, the SCA detained the ship, demanding compensation of $916 million.

Image Credits: ITF Seafarers

The Japanese company Shoei Kisen who owns the ship have refused to pay the compensation alleging that the canal authorities couldn’t validate it with enough data.

While the investigation has been completed, the SCA hasn’t made the results public yet. Earlier, the SCA had blamed the ship’s captain for the grounding and denied any role of the SCA employees in the incident.

The court has revealed that they are approving the detention based on a report submitted by the SCA. Although the reasons for the ruling haven’t been announced yet, the SCA had revealed that the challenge of detaining the ship within the time limit hasn’t been notified.

Meanwhile, the insurer, UK PI Club, has said that the owners are assessing the options available and preparing for another appeal by May 20.

Both the UK Club and the ship management company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) have expressed their disappointment saying that the evidence and the validity of the arrest by the SCA are weak.

Reference: insurancejournal.com

Source: Maritime Shipping News