Japan’s Shoei Kisen Kaisha is being sued in a London court by a group of cargo owners and their insurers over an accident that caused the massive Evergreen-operated ship carrying thousands of containers to Europe to be stuck in Egypt for months while fines were negotiated between the ship owner and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).
Adriaanse Import & Export, JDM Food Group, Rewe-Zentral, TFC Holland, and insurers AIG and Allianz have all joined forces in this most recent legal action. Many of the complaints concern perishable food that arrived at its destination long after it had been originally scheduled to do so. Shipping companies and their insurance providers blame the grounding on hasty navigation through the canal and a failure to remain in the canal’s deepest, central section.
The cargo owners argued to the High Court that the ship owners “were negligent and/or failed to act with reasonable care and skill in breach of their duties.”
London court documents claim that the ship’s master, who was employed by Bernhard Schulte Ship management, exceeded the speed limit as it sailed for 18 minutes above the 12-knot speed, causing the vessel to lose control and veer from side to side before grounding with its bow firmly lodged in one of the banks of the canal. This caused the greatest maritime disaster of the century, which halted transoceanic commerce for nearly a week.
Claims from the grounding include physical damage to the Ever Given, loss of income for the SCA, the cost of the salvage operations and business interruption for the owners and charterers of the blocked vessels, loss of perishables and cargo delays, and damage to the canal itself.
In June of this year, French reinsurer SCOR estimated that claims related to the grounding of the Ever Given will exceed $2 billion.
SCOR said it could take many more years to settle Ever Given’s claims.
