Malaysian shipyard TAS Offshore (TAS) says it has received an “invalid” notice of termination from QMS1 Offshore Services, cancelling a shipbuilding contract for an offshore construction vessel (OCV).
“TAS’s position is that the purported notice of termination is not valid and the company intends to proceed with legal proceedings,” the Malaysian company said in a filing today.
The OCV construction contract was signed between TAS’s subsidiary TA Ventures (L) and QMS 1 Offshore Services in January 2015 and was valued at some $11.7m. The OCV was due for delivery from TAS on December 11 last year.
“The vessel was ready for delivery within the agreed time frame, but the buyer failed to provide relevant documents and certificates for further process, citing technical and quality issues, [with] which we strongly disagree,” TAS said.
QMS1 Offshore Services, which is part of UAE-based Zakher Marine International, in March cancelled its contract for two anchor handling and tug supply vessels under construction at the yard. TAS said this termination was also “not valid”.
With the OCV contract cancelled, QMS1 Offshore has terminated its three-vessel order in its entirety.
