DryShips Inc., an international provider of marine transportation services for dry bulk and petroleum cargoes, through its majority owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig UDW Inc., has reached an agreement with Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries (RSHI), to cancel the newbuilding contracts for four ice-class panamax bulker vessels, in exchange for the refund of all instalments paid to RSHI plus interest.
The decision to cancel the orders comes as a result of ” severe delays, and non-existent vessel delivery schedules,” which the company disclosed in their presentation of 2Q results. All amounts due under this agreement have been received in full by the company.
According to the company’s presentation, the cancelled newbuildingss were initially planned for delivery from June to October 2014.
DryShips owns a fleet of 39 dry bulk carriers, comprising 13 Capesize, 24 Panamax and 2 Supramax with a combined deadweight tonnage of approximately 4.3 million tonnes, and 10 tankers, comprising 4 Suezmax and 6 Aframax, with a combined deadweight tonnage of over 1.3 million tonnes.