If the Ever Given really was ran aground to due a once-in-a-75-year-sandstorm then it's hardly the fault of either the captain or the port authority to predict such a freak weather occurrence. Yes the captain has ultimate authority, but the port authority also has intimate knowledge of this region, and thus the weather and it's capabilities. We can only know more there after the investigation.<p>On the other hand, the Suez Canal has had a lot of time to even begin construction of a second canal on the southern stretch and hasn't. I'm sure now they will consider that a higher priority as if this block happened further north where there are two canal lanes this wouldn't have been as big an issue.<p>I agree that reparations for the actual true cost of the salvage are due -- the cost of the tugboats, the dredger etc, but to pay damages on lost revenue due to a freak weather occurrence (if that was the case) and the lack of the Suez Canal to build out their infrastructure is disagreeable to say the least.
Whatever been said on Egyptian TVs is mostly directed to Egyptians, as on going government propaganda, it does not reflect what will really happen for those cases.
Can anyone qualified explain how this could be the shipper's fault? I understood the canal requires (extremely expensive) pilots supplied by the canal authority aboard for any passage. It's mentioned in the article:<p>> Bernhard Schulte has said previously that two Egyptian canal pilots were aboard when the ship got stuck. Such an arrangement is customary to guide vessels through the narrow waterway, but the ship’s captain retains ultimate authority, according to experts.
Legally, this seems shaky:<p>- The ship had, as required, two pilots on board at the time. These are agents of the canal and have ultimate authority during the passage.<p>- the loss in fees seems far smaller, and can easily be counted by the numbers of ships that went the long way around.<p>- I doubt the salvage operation got close to that cost. There just isn't enough equipment to lease to run up a billion in four days or so., even counting stuff that may have never arrived<p>- Egypt still knows it's French. Force Majeur should ring a bell.<p>That being said, I wonder if it matters? They could have the right, or at least the power, to simply refuse passage to all vessels operated by the company. Egypt is probably party to some international agreement precluding arbitrary decision in that regard for political reasons. But they'd obviously be allowed to do so for vessels not paying the regular fee. This case would seem to resemble the latter more than the former?
The experience of Sea Witch, a yacht, in traversing the Suez Canal might give some context on this big brother version.<p><a href="http://www.sailsafely.com/suez_canal.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.sailsafely.com/suez_canal.htm</a>
Not sure of the angle for claiming on "costs of stalled traffic" (is that lost revenue?), surely the brunt of that loss is on the commercial concerns of the boat operators themselves?<p>If $1bn were the 'true costs' then clearly there are a lot of costs in running the canal over a year. It seems like the number is highly inflated, on face value. Not an expert, just an observation.
> The average size of most vessels has increased exponentially over the last 15 years. The ability to salvage these bigger ships has not," said Peter Townsend, a marine insurance industry veteran.<p>Well - Either you allow gigantic ships that have this risk through, and set aside cash for when shit like this eventually happens - Or you don't allow them through at all. Learn how to budget for your risk profile.
Maritime insurance doesn’t usually cover some freak weather (acts of God). It is too risky for the insurer to have large amounts of their book exposed to the same event. I’m not sure if this sandstorm counts as an act of God, but $1B to Egypt for a canal blockage probably pales in comparison to the claims that might be made against late-delivery insurance. It is probably those claims which insurers are most worried about, and those claims which they want to dismiss as due to acts of God (but the cause of “ship blocking canal” feels to me even less like an act of God than “big sandstorm”)
The Egyptian armed forces are in a very good position to keep the ship in the great bitter lake as long as they want, question is, what's the value of the cargo onboard?