Egyptian authorities and the owners of the massive EVER GIVEN vessel that blocked the Suez Canal in March have reached a deal ending months-long of compensation dispute and said that the embattled ship would be finally allowed to leave the Great Bitter Lake.

Although the terms of the deal were not revealed, the agreement between the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and the Shoe Kisen Kaisa Ltd., the Japanese owner of the Ever Given will be signed in a ceremony in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia on Wednesday — the same day that the massive EVER GIVEN will be floated out of the Egyptian waters. 

The SCA earlier demanded a US$916 million compensation, which was later lowered to US$550 million — which would cover the cost for the salvage operation, costs of stalled canal traffic, and lost transit fees for the time that the massive container ship blocked the canal.

Shoei Kisen and insurers, however, argued that the demand is still too high compared to their US$150 million offer in compensation, which was rejected by the canal authority.

The deal comes months since the 20,000 TEU containership ran aground  and blocked one of the world's major waterways for six days. It was freed six days later following a salvage operation of one of the world’s largest container vessels.

Freeing ceremony to be held Wednesday

The ship’s insurer for third-party losses, the U.K. P&I Club, confirmed the development saying that a "formal solution" had been agreed with the SCA to settle their dispute over compensation.

"Preparations for the release of the vessel will be made and an event marking the agreement will be held at the authority's headquarters in Ismailia in due course," it added. 

The SCA said the event would be held on Wednesday, and that attendees would be able to watch the vessel leaving the canal.

The Panama-flagged vessel, reportedly carrying 18,000 containers with an estimated worth of US$775 million, has earlier been ordered by authorities to remain in a holding lake mid-canal as the parties continued to argue on the settlement. 

The vessel — chartered  by Taiwan's Evergreen Line — was traveling from China to Rotterdam carrying products for large multinational companies like Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo and Swedish furniture giant Ikea, as well as those for smaller businesses like UK-based clothing company Snuggy and bicycle maker Pearson 1860.