South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries has dropped contracts for the delivery of three ultra-large container ships ordered by Zim Integrated Shipping Services.
The contracts worth KRW553.8 billion (US$516 million) were part of a purchase deal for eight 12,500-TEU vessels that was signed in 2007 between the shipbuilder and the Israel-based box liner. Zim made a $51-million deposit on the agreement.
Since then, the container shipping line has encountered financial difficulties exacerbated by the global financial crisis. In March last year, the contracts for five ships from the same order valued at $849 million were terminated.
With the scrubbing of the last three orders, the entire deal worth more than $1.35 billion for Samsung has been dissolved.
Last month, Israel Corp. said it was withdrawing control of Zim as part of a restructuring deal to solve the carrier’s debt problems and enable an IPO offering from the company once the restructuring was completed.
Photo: jdnx
