Shipping giant AP Moeller-Maersk is suing Evergreen in a Danish court, seeking compensation for delays caused by the blockage of the Suez Canal when the Ever Given ran aground on March 23rd, 2021
The Panama-flagged vessel Ever Given, operated by Evergreen Marine Corp, blocked the global waterway for six days before salvage crews freed her on 29 March 2021.
In an email to The Associated Press, Maersk said it filed a claim against Evergreen Marine, the vessel’s Japanese owner and its German technical manager, Bernhard Schulte Management, in the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Copenhagen-based shipping company said the claim is related to losses suffered during the canal’s blockage. It did not provide further details, including when it filed the claim.
As a result of the grounding, up to 400 ships had their voyages disrupted. The effects also caused delays for cargoes bound for ports in Europe, the U.S. East Coast and beyond. This made some vessel operators reroute shipments to the south, around the Cape of Good Hope.
In early January, Evergreen was ordered to pay Maryland $676,000 as a penalty for the accident. Also, recently, the US Coast Guard published its investigation report into the grounding of the cargo ship “Ever Forward” in the Chesapeake Bay, faulting the pilot tasked with helping the ship navigate the waterway.