Suez Canal achieves revenues worth $2B in 1st quarter of 2021 in spite of stranding incident

CAIRO – 8 April 2021: In spite of MV EVER GIVEN's stranding for six days in March, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Osama Rabie stated Thursday that the waterway achieved $2 billion of revenues in the first quarter of 2021, which is higher than that accomplished over the same period in 2020.  

Speaking of the compensations that the Suez Canal must get to cover losses incurred from grounding of the container ship, Rabie said that the negotiations with the Japanese company are underway.

The compensations must make up for the lost revenues during the stranding hours and the cost of equipment used to refloat the ship over six days from March 23 to March 29, the Suez Canal chairman explained.

Commenting on the breaking of a Greek ship earlier this week, Rabie clarified that it was fixed in a few minutes negating that the incident crippled navigation in the international waterway.

The official explained that if one or two ships break per annum while crossing the canal, that will be zero percent compared to the number of vessels that navigate the international waterway yearly. He highlighted that 18,845 ships passed through the canal in 2020.

The length of MV EVER GIVEN is 40 meters, its width is 59 meters, and its cargo capacity is 224,000 tons. The cargo ship is operated by the Taiwanese company "Evergreen Marine Corp," and owned by the Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha. It was heading from China to the Netherlands.