The Ever Given, a container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for a week in March, left the waterway after 106 days on Wednesday as Egypt signed a compensation deal with its owners, the BBC reported.
The ship has a 25-member Indian crew. “We hope that these Indian seafarers come back to India very soon,” Sailors Union of India General Secretary RP Veetil told PTI.
The ship had got jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds on March 18, halting shipping traffic on the key waterway. Authorities launched a tedious excavation operation, with diggers working to remove parts of the canal’s bank and expand dredging close to the ship’s bow to a depth of 18 metres.
Ever Given was set afloat on March 29 evening (Indian time). But on April 13, the Suez Canal Authority seized the ship and said it won’t release the vessel till its owners paid $900 million (approximately Rs 6,758 crore) as compensation for losses. Later, it lowered the amount to $550 million (approximately Rs 3,739 crore).
The Suez Canal Authority had said Egypt lost between $12 million (approximately Rs 89.68 crore) and $15 million (Rs 112 crore) in revenue each day the waterway was closed because of the Ever Given, according to AFP. It added that efforts to salvage the ship also caused significant damage to the canal.
The ship’s Japanese owner Shoei Kisen and the Suez Canal Authority eventually agreed on an amount after lengthy negotiations. The figure, however, was not disclosed.
The Ever Given started heading north across the Great Bitter Lake on Wednesday morning, according to Reuters.
“May God let it arrive safely,” Tarek Alzeki, the captain of a tug boat carrying journalists who had come to cover the resumption of the ship’s voyage, told Reuters. “It is a beautiful thing ... we are happy, of course.”
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