Belgian DEME group, specializing in dredging and marine engineering, has attempted to seize a vessel being built at the financially-troubled shipyard LaNaval.
As confirmed to OW by the company’s spokesperson, DEME has hired sub-contractors to take control of the uncompleted cable laying and trenching vessel Living Stone after several delays in delivery by the Spanish yard.
A team of people was sent to the yard in two tug boats and tried to board the ship. As informed, the subcontractors tried to unmoor the vessel and tow it to another location where it would be completed.
The attempt was, however, thwarted by the shipyard’s workers at around midnight, September 20, who called to police to intervene in the matter.
DEME is said to be in talks with the Spanish yard on the possible solution of the matter, but legal action against the cash-strapped shipbuilder has not been ruled out.
The ship is being built by the yard for Tidewater, part of DEME Group, and needs around six more months to be completed.
Living Stone, described by its owner as “the world’s most advanced” subsea cable installation and trenching vessel was launched at the Spanish shipyard on September 18, 2016.
The vessel features a Dynamic Positioning 3 capability and dual fuel engines, with LNG being its prime fuel.
The ship was supposed to be delivered in the second quarter of 2017 and head to its first project at the Merkur offshore wind farm in Germany, 45 km north of Borkum in the North Sea, for the installation of inter-array cables.
Neither DEME nor LaNaval replied to World Maritime News with a comment on the matter.
World Maritime News Staff