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According to a report, Ever Date operators could move their containers to other ships.
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The ship cannot deliver its goods until $ 1 billion in damages have been paid to the Egyptian authorities.
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But transporting containers could become a physical, legal and logistical nightmare.
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Ever Date is exploring the possibility of transferring its 18,000 full cargo containers to other ships as it remains locked in a legal language, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The 224,000-ton cargo ship, which crashed into the Suez Canal on March 23 and was released 6 days later, has yet to leave the Suez Canal after Egyptian authorities announced it must first pay $ 1 billion in damages. of dollars.
But the ship’s operator, Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine Corp., is facing increasing pressure to deliver thousands of containers – full of everything from toilet paper to coffee and furniture – to its frustrated customers.
Read more: The 4 biggest losers of the Suez Canal fiasco – and 4 surprising winners
“Customers are asking when their boxes will be delivered after the ship is confiscated, and the prospect of moving containers to other ships and delivering them to customers in Europe is now on the table,” an unnamed source directly involved in the issue said, Wall Street Journal.
But any effort to eliminate the 18,000 20-foot units on Ever Date could become a massive physical and logistical challenge, forcing officials to move the ship, which is currently anchored in the canal’s artificial Bitter Great Lake, in the nearby town. from Port Said.
“It will not be easy to do, but there are a number of options,” the same source told the Wall Street Journal. “Empty ships can be deployed to pick up boxes, and some can be loaded onto other container ships crossing the same route to Europe.”
The move could also create additional legal headaches, mainly related to claims and taxes around the ship and its cargo customers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Evergreen Marine Corp said in a statement that it was analyzing the Egyptian court order “and is studying the possibility of the ship and cargo on board being treated separately.”
Earlier this month, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the ship’s owner, filed a general complaint against the ship’s operators, asking the companies loading the ship to share the risk and costs involved in recovering the ship.
Two lawmakers, Bruce Paulsen and Brian Maloney of Seward & Kissel, told the Maritime Executive this week: goods with property in transit on board the ship. “
“Except for one solution, those cargo owners now face additional costs and delays while maintaining the ship’s arrest,” they added.
The ship was sailing from Asia to Europe when it was stranded in the canal, causing severe delivery delays and an epic traffic jam for about 400 other ships, which have since begun to cross the canal again.
Evergreen has not identified customers whose deliveries are on Ever Date, although some companies, including IKEA and the German ALDI supermarket, have already said they have been affected.
Read the original Business Insider article