BOA Offshore gets 50% refund from shipyard after PSV cancellations

Norway’s BOA Offshore says it has received 50% of the principal amount of the advance payments from one of its shipbuilder’s banks, but is still chasing the remaining 50%.

“The remaining 50% has refund guarantee from another of the yard’s banks. BOA will continue the legal process collecting the remaining principal amount including interest,” BOA said today.

The refund is likely to relate to an arbitration won in London last year by the offshore service provider against Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry, regarding contracts for two multipurpose platform supply vessels (MPSV).

The MPSVs were ordered in May 2013 from Nantong Mingde and Sainty Marine. Nantong Mingde declared bankruptcy during 2015, and Sainty Marine is undergoing restructuring and may possibly be liquidated by its bank.

BOA made the initial down-payments on the two MPSVs, but their construction was delayed when Mingde didn’t settle payment for various ship parts on time. The arbitration, which was commenced in December 2014, enabled BOA to move towards cancelling the contracts, which it did in July 2015.

The cancellation included a claim for the repayment of all advance payments including interest, with refund guarantees in place with the yard’s bank, which were to be used should the respective yards fail to settle the refunds within 30 working days.