Huge Ship That Blocked Suez Canal Will Be Held Until Compensation Deal Is Reached

Egypt will release the giant container ship that had blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week once a deal is reached on compensation for related losses, the head of the canal’s authority said.

“The ship is ready,” Osama Rabie said in an interview on Egyptian television. Once “we agree on compensation, the ship departs and the matter is closed.”

The Ever Given blocked the canal for six days, roiling global markets and costing the Suez Canal Authority $15 million a day in lost revenue, according to its calculation. Rabie said Egypt wants compensation for the losses, as well as the cost of freeing the vessel.

The ship and its cargo are currently in the Great Bitter Lake, roughly halfway along the canal.

Photograph: Egyptian official checks the operation that freed the cargo ship Ever Given, which impeded all traffic in the Suez Canal for nearly a week. Photo credit: Handout/Getty Images.