Ever Given boxes must stay in Great Bitter Lake: Egyptian court

Ever Given boxes must stay in Great Bitter Lake: Egyptian court

    TAIWAN‘s Evergreen Marine has been blocked from offloading cargo from its 20,124-TEU Ever Given, which has been arrested in Great Bitter Lake in the canal zone, reports London‘s Lloyd‘s Loading List.

    The ship, having run aground and blocked the waterway for nearly a week, has been held pending settlement of the Suez Canal Authority‘s US$916 million damage claim.

    The company was hoping that its cargo could be treated separately, and could be transferred to other vessels, allowing it to continue to its destination.

    But Egyptian courts have since ruled that both the vessel and its cargo are under arrest and the company‘s request has been denied, according to an Evergreen spokesman, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

    "Customers are asking when their boxes will be delivered after the ship seizure, and the prospect of moving the containers to other ships and delivering them to the clients in Europe is now on the table.

    "It won‘t be easy to do, but there are a number of options," the source said. "Empty ships can be deployed to pick up boxes and some can be loaded to other containerships crossing on the same route to Europe."