Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), said on Wednesday night that Egypt aims to claim more than USD $1 billion in compensation following the recent blocking of the Suez Canal by container ship the Ever Given, reports Ahram Online. In a phone interview on the television channel Sada El-Balad last Wednesday evening, Rabie claimed that compensation is necessary not only for the revenue lost from toll payments of ships that were unable to pass through the canal, but also for the costs of tugboats and other specialist equipment used in the operation to free the ship. Ahram Online reports that Rabie asserted the critical role played by the authority in the rescue operation. “This ship is carrying cargo worth more than $3.5 billion. We saved them a huge sum of money. We saved the ship itself and we saved their cargo.” “It is the right of Egypt to be compensated,” he explained. “We will not forfeit our right.” Rabie also stated that the Ever Given is currently in the Great Bitter Lake, a wide stretch of water north of where the ship was initially lodged, until the…
