Odfjell gets 43 million USD compensation from Sevmash
The Stockholm Arbitrary Court has awarded a 43.76 million USD compensation to Norwegian shipping company Odfjell from Russian shipyard Sevmash for the latter’s failed delivery of 12 chemical tankers.
The verdict from the Stockholm Arbitrary Court gives the Norwegian company the full right in the corporate struggle with the Russian yard. Still, Odfjell is far from content with the verdict.
-We are seriously disappointed about the damages awarded, only USD 43.76 million. This figure is but a fraction of the value of our lost bargain, and of our trading losses, a press release from the company reads.
The contract on 12 tankers was described as historical in Norwegian-Russian industrial cooperation when it was concluded in 2004. The agreement worth 450 million USD was the biggest order ever made by a Norwegian company in Russia. However, the relationship between the parts soon started to show signs of trouble.
As BarentsObserver reported, the first ship in the series was to be delivered in October 2007. The vessels in order were IMO type II fully coated vessels of about 45 000 dwt., supposed to replace some of Odfjell’s older single hull chemical carriers.
Sevmash proved unable to deliver the vessels in line with contract conditions. As reported by BarentsObserver, Odfjell in early 2008 cancelled the contract. Odfjell’s CEO Terje Storeng then said that the Russian shipyard had “acted with disrespect as well as a lack of will to meet the contract conditions”. –They have shown no will to try to understand that this is a commercial project […] and deliberately sabotaged and delayed the project, he added
Odfjell was reported to demand a compensation from Sevmash of more than USD 100 million.
