Ever Given’s owners turn the tables on the Suez Canal Authority
Lawyers representing Shoei Kisen, the owners of the Ever Given, have argued that the Suez Canal Authority is responsible for the blocking of the Suez Canal because they allowed the ULCS to enter in bad weather.
The legal dispute over the detention of the ultra large container ship the Ever Given and the compensation claim arising from its grounding in the Suez Canal took a new turn at the weekend.
Shoei Kisen, the vessels owners, turned the tables on the canal’s governing body, the Suez Canal Authority, and laid the blame for the six-day blockage in March at their feet by saying they should not have allowed the mammoth vessel to have entered the canal zone in bad weather.
High winds have been cited as the cause of the grounding that held up 12% of the world’s maritime trade, and Shoei Kisen says that recordings presented to the court dealing with the SCA’s compensation claim clearly show disagreements between SCA pilots and its control centre over whether the vessel should enter the canal.
