Canada’s Algoma Central Corp has been awarded its claim for the fourth and final shipbuilding contract it has been disputing with Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries at an arbitration tribunal in London.
“With the resolution of the final refund claim against Mingde decided in our favour, we can now devote our full attention to building the vessels that we have ordered to replace the ones that Mingde did not complete,” said Ken Bloch Soerensen, Algoma’s president and CEO.
“We have begun collection proceedings for this final Mingde refund guarantee and expect to have this matter fully behind us in the near future,” the CEO continued.
The company has received $53.4m in refund guarantees for the first three cancellations. It has not yet been disclosed how much will be refunded for the fourth vessel.
Algoma ordered six Equinox-class bulk carriers at Nantong Mingde in 2010 to replace aging ships in its domestic fleet. Only two of the vessels were delivered before the Chinese shipyard declared bankruptcy in August 2015.
Algoma cancelled the four remaining contracts and has received tribunal decisions in its favour for all four of the cancellations. It has since signed contracts with shipyards in Croatia and another builder in China to build the other five Equinoxes.
The Canadian company operates a fleet of dry and bulk carriers on the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence Waterway, plus has some interest in ocean-going dry bulk carriers.
