SCA: 2 crew members citing ‘urgent private’ matters allowed to leave Ever Given

Two members of the Ever Given crew have been granted permission from the Suez Canal Authority to leave the ship to address urgent private matters, the canal authority confirmed.

The seafarers are part of the 25-strong crew of the giant containership, which has been arrested in Egypt earlier this week.

The canal authority said the ship would be held in the country until $916 million of compensation for the costs inflicted by the vessel’s March grounding is paid.

During this time, the crew members will be unable to leave the vessel.

The arrest was sought after SCA and the owner of the ship failed to reach an agreement on the compensation claim.

As informed, the claim includes a $300 million for a ‘salvage bonus’ and a $300 million claim for ‘loss of reputation’.

This doesn’t include the professional salvor’s claim for their salvage services which owners and their hull underwriters expect to receive separately.

According to the UK Club, Shoei Kisen’s liability insurance provider, the ‘extraordinarily large claim’ is largely unsupported.

Reacting to the arrest, Evergreen, the charterer of the ship, said it was investigating the scope of such a court order and studying the possibility of the vessel and the cargo on board being treated separately.

To remind, the 20,000 TEU Ever Given ran aground on March 23, blocking the waterway for hundreds of ships for six days.

The ship was finally refloated and towed to the Great Bitter Lakes region for its technical examination on March 29. Ever Given remains at anchor in the Great Bitter Lakes.

Chairman and Managing Director of SCA, Osama Rabie, said that the investigation related to the grounding of Ever Given was still ongoing alongside the negotiations with ‘the owing company as well as the insurance company to reach a convenient agreement for all parties.’

Rabie added that SCA was undertaking efforts to meet all the needs of the crew of the impounded vessel until the completion of the investigation.