The KGL Kuwaiti Company has revealed that the International Court affiliated with the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris issued a ruling in favour of the Damietta International Ports Company (DIPCO) and ordered the Damietta Port Authority pay a fine of EGP 7.7 billion ($494 million) after the Egyptian government annulled a container contract in 2015. In 2006, DIPCO were contracted to implement and manage the operation of a container station at the port with a usufruct system in an area of one million square metres, and a handling capacity of four million containers. They were supposed to start operating in 2009, but the company did not adhere t the deadline specified in the contract, which was rescinded in 2015 after a decision issued by the prime minister.
Dr. Ahmed Amin, a consultant to the former minister of transport, described the international court’s decision as strange: “DIPCO signed the contract in 2006, and it had to operate the station in 2009, but it did not do so. The Egyptian government gave it a deadline until 2015, but it did not adhere to it.” Government sources revealed that Hani Sarieddine Legal Consulting Office, which represents the Damietta Port Authority, will submit an appeal against the ruling in the coming days to the Court of Appeal. The ruling comes days after the announcement of Union Fenosa Company, the operator of the Damietta natural gas liquefaction station, that it will not waive its right to obligate Egypt to pay $2 billion in implementation of the ruling issued by the International Arbitration Centre against the Egyptian government.
