The Suez Canal crisis is over, now it's time to add up the damages

Delays are adding to pressures on fragile global supply chains

The Suez Canal may be open again, but the battle over damages from the waterway’s longest closure in almost half a century is just beginning. With cargoes delayed for weeks if not months, the blockage could unleash a flood of claims by everyone affected, from shipping lines to manufacturers and oil producers.

“The legal issues are so enormous,” said Alexis Cahalan, a partner at Norton White in Sydney, which specialises in transport law. “If you can imagine the variety of cargoes that are there — everything from oil, grain, consumer goods like refrigerators to perishable goods — that is where the