Panama to investigate accident of Panama-flagged vessel stranded in Suez Canal

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Panama’s maritime authorities reported Wednesday that they will open an investigation into the accident of the Panamanian-flagged Ever Given, owned by Japanese firm Shoei Kisen and serving Taiwan-based Evergreen, which became stranded Tuesday in the Suez Canal blocking the passage of dozens of ships through that waterway.

“We are appointing an investigator who is precisely going to prepare a report to be able to understand for certain what were the events surrounding this stranding of the Ever Given vessel in the Suez Canal,” said the head of the Directorate General of Merchant Marine (DGMM) of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), Rafael Cigarruista.

Panama, whose regulations allow for “open registration” and offer tax advantages, leads the world’s merchant fleet with more than 8,500 flagged vessels, according to official data.

The AMP’s Directorate General of Merchant Marine is responsible to the International Maritime Organization (IOM) for all investigations of accidents or incidents that occur aboard Panamanian-flagged vessels, Cigarruista said in an audio provided to the EFE news agency.

“We are coordinating with local authorities, and in fact the embassy and consulate (of Panama) have been in constant communication with Egyptian authorities,” Cigarruista said.

He affirmed that they already have “enough information” to put together a preliminary report, which he estimated could be ready “in the next 15, 30 days, depending on how the information continues to flow”.

The container ship Ever Given, owned by the Taiwanese company Evergreen and operating under the Panamanian flag, was blocked in the southern section of the canal. The vessel is 400 meters long, 59 meters wide and has a capacity of 224,000 tons.

“This is a 400-meter vessel, and when it loses maneuverability it falls to one of its sides, and it happens to touch the bottom of the canal, and when it touches the bottom of the canal, perhaps the current or the wind itself pushes it and obstructs the waterway,” commented Cigarruista.

He also assured that the captain of the vessel “was definitely in charge of navigation”, but emphasized that in the Suez Canal “there are pilots who advise the captain during transit in this area, and there were two pilots at this time”.

The Panamanian official ruled out that there will be sanctions for this accident because “all these vessels have an insurance policy”, and “there was no pollution, no injuries, and the damages are structural in the vessel” carrying 20,000 containers.

“These are issues that, maritime speaking, do not happen every day, nor are they very common, but when they happen they do not generate a major alert as long as there is no pollution,” he said.

The Suez Canal coordination office of the Dubai-based Gulf Agency Company (GAC) said that of the 30 ships scheduled to transit the Canal yesterday in a northerly direction, 15 are “completely stopped” at its southern entrance.

Today, another 30 vessels were registered to pass through the Canal from south to north and are waiting for the passage to be cleared, GAC added in a statement.

Meanwhile, 35 vessels were to sail from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and 13 of these have been allowed passage to the central area, where they will wait in the Great Lake until the southern section of the Canal is unblocked.

(With information from EFE/infobae)