I’m the owner/dircetor of a small UK-bsaed manufacturere who has about 12 months’ worth of components on the Ever Given and I’m worried sick about this. We’ve managed to keep going through the pandemic by bringing in extra smaller batches of components by air, but if we don’t get this stuff soon we’ll just have to close up. Without the components we simply have no business.
It’s obviously maddening to be the victim of the SCA’s piracy and extortion, but the complete lack of any information and updates on the situation from Evergreen and the other organisations whose business it is to make the shipment is truly galling. I’ve been able to get my information from NewsNow, updating my ‘Ever Given’ search several times a day, but I’m furious that there’s been next to nothing of any help passed on from the shippers.
After getting the news of the release last week and waiting several days before seeing the ship actually moving again, I was horrified to see the Ever Given drop anchor off Port Said (I’d expected it to see it berth as it had been added as a scheduled stop). I can understand the need to check out the vessel following its grounding, but can’t imagine what work there was still to do given that this was supposed to have been done whilst at anchor in the Great Bitter Lake. It can’t possibly be that the three months it was there wasn’t enough time to carry out these checks, so did the SCA prevent this work from being carried out?
Now it’s stopped again, not actually at anchor according to Vessel Finder, but just apparently drifting around of Syracuse with a few slow corrective busts, looking at the recent tracking. …and even the experienced contributors here can’t come up with any plausible reason for why this might be so.
Evergreen will no doubt justify their lack of communication during the seizure as being necessary due to the ongoing negotiations, but now that the ship is free, why the radio silence?
My guess is there may be two problems. One is the weather limits imposed by the temporary seaworthy certificate.
The more thorny problem might be related to this:
According to the spokesperson, this choice is motivated by the fear that affected parties will seize in other ports. When choosing the port of discharge, the shipping company and the insurers are guided by the question of where the least legal complications can be expected. The fact that there are major differences between Dutch and British maritime legislation plays an important role in this.
Perhaps there are negotiations with parties that have the power to seize the ship or further delay delivery of cargo.
Maybe the container transshipment port ‘Tanger Med 2’, on the Moroccan side of the Strait of Gibraltar, could help.
It is outside of the European’s legal system, and the Moroccans (without visible special efforts) could certainly delay any legal action until ‘Ever Given’ is completely discharged.
The Hamburg call has been cancelled owing to conditions placed on the vessel and another smaller Evergreen vessel will be used for that transshipment.
A two month stay on further claims has been granted via the London court although nothing is mentioned regarding Rotterdam. Perhaps this might explain why the EG is being held outside all territorial waters until such time as a deal has been stitched up regarding the Rotterdam discharge.
I understand your frustration entirely. These massive issues were further compounded following the 6 day grounding by the EG’s long detention.
Good to see the ‘Ever Grounded’ is under way again.
Thanks for the educated guesswork as to why it was loitering around off Syracuse for several days. Maybe this was the reason for its stay in Port Said, rather than the ‘safety checks’ explanation officially offered?
Now, like all the cargo owners, I’m being asked by the ship owners’ average adjusters, Richards Hogg Lindley, to make a ‘deposit’ payment to the value of 25% of the total value of our goods. This payment is to be made directly to their bank account and they, of course, give no indication of how much of this will be returned, if ever, but do add: “May we therefore urge you to take the necessary actions as quickly as possible in order to avoid further delays.”
Having been held to ransom by the institutional piracy of the SCA, the shipowner now seems to think it’s okay to perpetrate a similarly extortionate action upon the cargo owners without issuing any reassurance that their goods will ever reach their destination.
Do I actually have any options other than to just pay up? Can I, at least, defer this or pass it on to my insurers (don’t think I’m actually covered, but this hasn’t been confirmed by my insurers yet)?
My son is in that business and he says that everyone who has cargo on board of the Ever Given has to pay a deposit because they are afraid they will not receive anything after extradition.
I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know the details about this ‘averaging’.
However, some knowledge of our legal systems suggests that the reasons for this unilateral decision, to declare a “General Average”, may be challenged by the big and wealthy “losers”.
This would delay any further litigations to the years to come…
It is hard to look at these two photos and not consider, at a draft of 15.7m, that the rudder and propeller were not very close to/or on the bricks. Perhaps this may explain the cancellation of the Hamburg stopover with the commensurate speed restrictions.
Three hours ago, ‘Ever Given’ passed the Strait of Gibraltar, now in the Atlantic at 11.3 knots.
They changed the ETA at Rotterdam to July 29 at 00;01 (1400 miles to go).
It was on course at normal speed until 09:28 UTC when it slowed right down and has been loitering off the coast of Cherbourg all day. Looks just the same as what happened off the coast of Sicily soon after it left Port Said. It was there for several days before it resumed its journey.
There simply is no place at the terminal, the ship is therefore on hold. Other container ships that have not been delayed have priority over the Ever Given at the ECT Terminal where the container giant will dock. Cargo owners will have to be even more patient when the container ship arrives in Rotterdam on Thursday afternoon. It can take a few days before the Japanese ship is unloaded.
The bulk of the containers will have to be disembarked in Rotterdam, after that the Ever Given only calls at a British port. All containers for the European continent, especially Germany, will therefore also disembark in Rotterdam.
I have anchored in that bight east of Brixham while awaiting a berth rather than the anchorages east of Dover Straits. The anchorages east of Dover tend to be more exposed to weather coming off the North Sea.
I don’t know if that’s the reason for loitering off Cherbourg or not but that area is a better protected from northerlies.
Announced arrival at Rotterdam is at 00:01 UTC on Thursday, July 29.
Now, she is at 240 miles from Rotterdam, at her usual speed of 10 knots this takes 24 hours.
On her voyage from Gibraltar the weather was fine, she was faster than planned…
Good to to see the ‘Ever Grounded’ is on the move again.
Here’s an extract from the official update from Evergreen provided by my forwarder yesterday:
EVER GIVEN’s Estimated Time of Berthing (ETB) at Ports of Discharge 16 July 2021
While EVER GIVEN is en route to her destination ports in Europe, the vessel needs to follow the guidance outlined in its seaworthiness certificate to sail at lower speeds and to call only Rotterdam and Felixstowe. The usual Hamburg port call will be dropped because of concerns surrounding navigation safety. To comply with the safety requirement, the cargoes planned to be discharged in Hamburg will be unloaded in Rotterdam and transshipped to the destination port. Evergreen Line is coordinating with the terminal operators regarding berth arrangements and will maintain close contact with them to ensure the containers can be discharged as soon as possible when the vessel arrives. The ship’s operational schedule is planned as follows:
28 July - ETB Rotterdam Delta Terminal to discharge local imports and transshipments via this port
02 August - ETB Rotterdam Euromax Terminal to discharge cargoes to/via Hamburg, then transshipped by EVER UTILE 0014-164E
03 August - ETB Felixstowe to discharge local imports
08 August – EVER UTILE to call Hamburg and discharge local imports and transshipments via this port
