CAIRO, 2 April, 2021 (TON):  In the backdrop of the container ship blockade in the waterway in the Suez Canal, Egypt's Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said that it will seek over $1 billion in compensation for the losses caused by the massive container.

SCA chairman Osama Rabie said, “The compensation for the losses and damages will reach over $1 billion dollars. This is the right of the state and we will not give it up."

The refloated Ever Given veered off its course in a single-lane stretch of the canal during a sandstorm on 23 March, and six days later through the efforts of the SCA in cooperation with the Dutch firm Boskalis and its emergency response team SMIT Salvage hired by Ever Given's owner, the ship was freed.

The compensation demanded by the authority is not only for the financial losses caused by the six-day navigation suspension, but includes the expenses of using dredgers and tugboats and the physical damage caused during the salvage process, the Chairman stated.

However, Egypt resumed navigation in the canal several hours after the Ever Given was freed and re-floated on Monday, after which many of the 422 ships that have been kept waiting started to cross the waterway.