Mohammed Abu Zaid

CAIRO: The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has issued a statement on the accountability and ownership dispute surrounding the Ever Given container ship, which ran aground and disrupted global trade in March.

The statement came in response to recent legal claims put forward by UK Protection Ltd.

According to the release, the SCA stated that its negotiating committee had reviewed negotiations of the legal file for the ship, as well as a statement by UK Protection Ltd.

The SCA said it “appreciated” what was stated about the authority’s eligibility to obtain an appropriate and fair compensation that covers the costs of rescue work, the due rescue reward and the losses incurred by the authority during the successful rescue operation of the stranded ship.

It stressed that the canal’s navigation regulation is the legal reference that defines the rights and obligations of the Suez Canal toward its customers.

The regulation includes traffic rules in the canal and all texts specifying the various responsibilities and requirements for ships transiting the canal, including maritime, logistics and rescue vessels.

It was also highlighted that the Navigation Regulations in Clause No. 58 regarding the designation of accompanying tugs states that the authority shall appoint two tugs accompanying container ships weighing 170,000 tons or more. This was done by the authority in the case of Ever Given, the SCA said.

The authority added that the permitted speeds of vessels within the navigational course ranges from 14 to 16 kilometers per hour, depending on the type of ship.

Accordingly, it said ships are obligated to apply the predetermined speeds in accordance with the navigation regulations during their transit through the channel, and the responsibility for exceeding these speeds rests with the ship’s master alone.