The Loadstar 1 April; For the vessel, now at anchor at the Bitter Lakes area undergoing technical inspections, a possible date of departure to ports of discharge has yet to be set. While the backlog of vessels waiting to transit Suez is now expected to be cleared over the next couple of days, shippers and freight forwarders with cargo on the Ever Given could be in for a long wait for it to be released.

As the investigation into the grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal begins, the vessel's Japanese owner, Shoe Kisen, this morning declared General Average. This leaves shippers with uninsured cargo highly vulnerable to losing it, as the owner can hold the goods under lien until the deposit is paid. Shippers with insured goods will have those deposits covered by their insurers.

The last time General Average was declared was following the 2018 fire on board the Maersk Honam. After declaring GA, the adjustor fixed the salvage security at 42.5% of cargo value and 11.5% as a GA deposit – this meant a shipper with a cargo worth $100,000 needed to pay a combined deposit of $54,000 to get its cargo released.

BBC News Published 2 hours ago Suez Canal traffic jam caused by stuck ship Ever Given 'cleared'. More than 400 vessels were left waiting at either end of the canal when the 400m-long Ever Given became wedged across it on 23 March. But Egypt's Suez Canal Authority says the shipping traffic jam is now over.