Sweden’s Viking Supply Ships has seen an anchor-handling tug supply contract cancelled in Russia due to European sanctions.
The Christen Sveaas-controlled owner warned in February that the new deal for the 19,034-bhp Loke Viking (built 2010), Magne Viking, Njord Viking (both built 2011) and Brage Viking (built 2012) was likely to be torn up following the invasion of Ukraine.
The ships had been chartered for 240 fixed days and up to 660 optional days.
“The contract in question has now been cancelled without any further liabilities to any of the parties in the contract,” said Viking.
“Viking is not pursuing any further business opportunities in Russia.”
The transaction was worth €18.5m ($19.3m), but Viking did not originally give any details of the charterer or region, saying only that it was for harsh environment work in the Arctic in the summers of 2022 and 2023.
Norwegian broker Seabrokers said the charters were expected to support Dutch contractor and shipowner Van Oord with work for a Russian client in the Kara Sea.
War then broke out in Ukraine, and Viking had to admit the deal involved a job for a Russian company in Russian waters.
Viking has said it has a strong commitment to compliance and has procedures to ensure conformity with economic sanctions and embargo laws in connection with its charters.
Van Oord told TradeWinds it could not give any more information for safety reasons.
The four Viking vessels are ice-class 1A and 1A Super.
The work involved a “major industrial project”, according to Viking.
The options to extend would have covered 2024.
Viking said when it won the deal that the contract testified to its strong presence in the market for complex marine operations in the Arctic and harsh-environment regions.
