Ship arrest in Egypt
Arrest of a vessel before the Egyptian economic courts, the security required for release, and the Suez Canal precedents.
Ship arrest in Egypt proceeds before the Egyptian economic courts rather than through the admiralty procedure familiar in common-law jurisdictions, and a canal casualty is the fact pattern that most often produces one. The Suez Canal Authority route to security is an application to the court, not a self-help detention.
The Ever Given is the worked example. After the grounding of 23 March 2021 the Ismailia Economic Court of First Instance ordered the arrest of the ship and her cargo on 13 April 2021, the owners appeal against the arrest was rejected and the order upheld, and the vessel sailed only on 7 July 2021 once a settlement had been signed. The court closed the file on 11 July 2021.
The full article will cover the jurisdictional basis for arrest, the claims that will support one, the security accepted for release and the treatment of a protection and indemnity club letter of undertaking, the position of cargo arrested alongside the ship, and the appeal route.