Thailand’s Mermaid Maritime has cancelled an order for DP2 dive support and construction vessel Mermaid Ausana, currently under construction at China Merchants Industry Holdings.
The company purchased an option for the vessel in 2014, and later delayed delivery in May 2016, with an eventual delivery set for June 2017.
Mermaid said that China Merchants will keep the pre-paid installments, which amount to $20.4m, however a sum of $1m will be refunded by the yard.
The move frees Mermaid from having to pay a balance of $124.8m which was due upon delivery of the vessel, and the company had already impaired the pre-paid installments in its 2015 accounts.
Sources tell Splash the vessel has been picked up by Singapore-based Ultra Deep Solutions, led by Shel Hutton. The company has renamed the vessel to Lichtenstein and it is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2017.
