Egyptian authorities may seek damages in the amount of more than $ 1 billion for helping to re-float the ship Ever Given, which has built up in the Suez Canal, CNBC reported.

“We will reach over a billion dollars in compensation,” Osama Rabie, the chairman and managing director of the state-owned Suez Canal Authority, told Egypt’s Sada El Balad channel on Wednesday evening. 

The 200,000-ton container ship was successfully floated on Monday, six days after it got stuck in the Suez Canal. The incident sparked a crisis in international shipping, costing world trade $ 9 billion a day.

Rabie said he hoped a compensation agreement could be reached “in two or three days” and if not, Egypt might hold the ship in the Great Bitter Lake, north of the Suez Canal, where it is currently undergoing maintenance checks.

“We could agree on a certain compensation, or it goes to court,” he said. “If they decide to go to court, then the ship should be held,” he warned.