P+S WERFTEN's insolvency administrator unfazed by Scandlines' decision to cancel construction contract for two ferries.
Berthold Brinkmann, insolvency administrator for P+S WERFTEN, issued the following statement in response:
"I am unperturbed, because I had included the cancellation by Scandlines in my calculations. In recent weeks we had made the two ships, the shipbuilding premises, staff and all construction plans available to Scandlines as well as to other shipbuilders and sub-contractors and in addition we conducted tests ourselves on the ships. Scandlines did not inform us to the scope agreed on about the results of the negotiations with the other shipbuilders.
Nonetheless, the commercial offer made by Scandlines is also not acceptable. We presented the offer to the board of creditors this past Thursday. The board of creditors was also not willing to engage in this offer. For this reason we are currently in negotiations with interested parties who are submitting considerably higher bids than Scandlines."
Background
Earlier Scandlines informed the administrator it had not been possible to find a solution to the severe technical problems that have occurred during the building process delaying the delivery. Accordingly, the contracts were now cancelled on the basis of the yard’s failure to construct the vessels in line with the contractual specifications.
Initially, the introduction of the new ferries on the Gedser – Rostock route was planned for this summer. All payments made to P+S Werften GmbH are covered by bank guarantees.
Scandlines said however, that it had invested substantially into the newbuilding project with manpower, marketing activities and the introduction of an extra vessel during the summer months in 2012.