Boa Offshore mulls cancellation of delayed PSVs at Chinese yards

Boa Offshore said it has been notified of a successful arbitration award from the London tribual after a hearing held at the end of June.

“The award determine the delivery dates in the two shipbuilding contracts with Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry, and the company see this as an important step towards cancellation. The company will now use some time to evaluate the award and the reasons given, before deciding on a potential cancellation of the contracts,” Boa Offshore said in a statement.

The cancellation means a potential refund claim of RMB517m ($83.2m) from the Chinese shipyards, according to Sainty Marine.

Financially-troubled Sainty Marine acknowledged that Boa Offshore is likely to make a claim as the pair of newbuilding PSVs had not been delivered since the agreed 26 May and 25 September 2014 dates.

The newbuilding contracts were undertaken by both Mingde and Sainty Marine, as the two yards had collboration agreements on shipbuilding deals so as to utilise yard capacity and lower production costs.

In 2013, Boa Offshore booked the two PSVs with Mingde, but the Chinese shipyard delayed the contract, leading to an arbitration in December 2014.