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The Container Ship That Blocked Suez Canal Is Set To Sail On Wednesday

NOEL KING, HOST:

The very large container ship that blocked Egypt's Suez Canal for more than a week back in March will start sailing again tomorrow. It took a massive salvage effort to free it, and the ship's Japanese owners have agreed to pay the Suez Canal Authority. Here's NPR's Joanna Kakissis.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OSAMA RABIE: (Non-English language spoken).

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: The Suez Canal Authority's chairman, Osama Rabie, told a private Egyptian television channel that he won't reveal how much compensation was paid in the deal. The two parties signed a non-disclosure agreement.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RABIE: (Non-English language spoken).

KAKISSIS: Rabie praised the deal as important, saying it will preserve ties with the company and Japan. But Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a shipping analyst for Lloyd's List, is troubled that there are so few public details about this deal as well as the incident and the investigation into it.

MICHELLE WIESE BOCKMANN: Well, first of all, we need to know how it happened. I mean, these ships are worth tens of millions of dollars, and the trade that's upon (ph) them is worth - you know, one container ship the size of the Ever Given carries about, you know, 700 million to a billion dollars' worth of cargo. So we need to know why this happened.

KAKISSIS: Bockmann is also concerned that the Suez Canal Authority initially demanded $900 million in compensation.

BOCKMANN: Huge, unrealistic sums of money - so all of the questions that in any other industry would be raising alarm bells and people would want to be finding the answers to.

KAKISSIS: Nevertheless, the Suez Canal Authority is planning to hold a ceremony on the signing of this deal tomorrow.

For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis.

(SOUNDBITE OF ...OF SINKING SHIPS' "IT'S EASIER WITH NO DESTINATION") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Joanna Kakissis is a foreign correspondent based in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she reports poignant stories of a conflict that has upended millions of lives, affected global energy and food supplies and pitted NATO against Russia.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.