On Tuesday, a three-month-long judicial dead end of a hulking shipping vessel that had blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week earlier this year was lifted by an Egyptian court, leaving no further obstacles for the ship to leave Egypt.
The Ismaila city court stated that the Ever Given would be allowed to leave the canal on Wednesday, after a ceremony in the canal city of Ismailia, following the decision on Tuesday.
A judicial official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated earlier that the Suez Canal Authority notified the court that it reached a settlement in its financial dispute with Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the Japanese owner of the Ever Given.
In March, the large vessel ran aground, blocking the crucial maritime crossing for a total of six days. The ship has been since held amid a dispute over financial compensation for the damages and efforts to unblock the canal.
The terms of the settlement were not revealed by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). At first, reports suggested that the SCA demanded $916 million in compensation, which was later lowered to $550 million. In addition to the money, local reports said the canal would also receive a tugboat.
The salvage operation would be covered by the compensation, in addition to the costs of stalled canal traffic, and lost transit fees for the week caused by the blocking of the canal by the Ever Given.
The Ever Given was on its way to the Dutch port of Rotterdam on March 23 when it slammed into the bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez.
