Evergreen is looking at moving cargo from the seized Suez ship

“It won’t be easy to do, but there are a number of options,” said this person. “Empty ships can be used to collect boxes and some can be loaded onto other container ships crossing the same route to Europe.”

The Ever Given grounded in the Suez Canal on March 23 while towing approximately 18,000 loaded containers, in units of 20 feet container equivalent, a standard maritime measure, from Asia to Europe. Salvage teams freed the ship six days later, but it remains in a holding area in the canal while the Suez Canal Authority files a $ 916 million claim against the ship’s owner, Japan-based Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., including costs from salvage and other damage.

Taiwan’s Evergreen was operating the vessel on a long-term charter from shipping company Shoei Kisen when the Ever Given ran aground.

Shifting the cargo to another ship would be a physical challenge and it may be necessary to move the ship from its anchorage in the Great Bitter Lake in the channel to nearby Port Said in Egypt. Any attempt to clear the shipments would be complicated by the legal claims and fees surrounding the ship and its freight customers.

Shoei Kisen has appealed to the legal shipping clause known as common average that calls on companies with cargo on a ship in distress to share in the costs of the ship’s recovery.

Evergreen said in a statement that it is investigating the Egyptian court order authorizing the ship’s detention “and examining the possibility of the ship and cargo on board being handled separately.”

The closure of Suez has exacerbated delivery delays and rising costs for freight owners and further strained the shipping industry struggling with capacity constraints and congestion from disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Evergreen has not identified the customers whose shipments are on Ever Given, but some companies have pointed to potential impacts on their operations.

Germany-based discount supermarket Aldi, which operates 10,000 stores in 20 countries, said in a Facebook post last month that a range of products from floor mats to bicycles and riding accessories that would hit shelves in March and April will be delayed. on average about a month.

“We are sorry, the special purchases you are looking for may have been delayed due to current events,” said the grocer.

American furniture manufacturer La-Z-Boy Inc.

said at an investor conference on March 24 that it had five containers on the ship.

British P&I Club, Ever Given’s insurer, said the $ 916 million claim was “largely unsupported” and without “detailed justification.”

“The grounding does not cause pollution and no reported injuries. The vessel was refloated after six days and the Suez Canal promptly resumed commercial operations, ”said a statement this week.

The ship has been found safe by the US Bureau of Shipping, a maritime classification society, which said it can move to Port Said for further checks and then to Rotterdam, its original destination.

Write to Costas Paris at [email protected] and Joyu Wang at [email protected]