Awilco Expects to Recover All Costs Related to WilForce Collision

Norwegian LNG shipping company Awilco LNG said that it expects to recover all costs related to the WilForce collision in late May.

Illustration; Source: Flickr – under the CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license; Image by: Kees Torn

Namely, the company noted that it has “a substantial claim towards the ship responsible for the collision and expects to collect same in due course.”

The 155,900 cbm LNG tanker suffered hull damage when it was hit by another vessel off Singapore on May 30. At the time, the ship was employed on a 9-12-month time charter contract. Due to the prolonged off-hire period required to repair the vessel the balance of the time charter contract was cancelled.

“Based on an assessment of facts and legal advice Awilco LNG holds the other vessel fully and completely liable for the collision, and the company expects to recover all costs, expenses and losses from the other party, including insurance deductibles, off-hire and lost time charter hire, in due course.”

The company said that the claim would not be reflected in its financial statements until the awarded compensation is determined.

Awilco LNG revealed the developments as part of its second quarter 2019 financial report.

The company’s loss for the period reached USD 8.6 million, compared to USD 3.4 million seen in the previous quarter.

Related to WilForce, the company said that it recorded a net loss of USD 0.5 million in the second quarter related to a deductible and certain non-insurable costs, whereas a total of USD 1.1 million in loss of hire claim has been recognised as other income in the three-month period.

Fleet utilisation for the quarter ended at 56%, compared to 90% in the previous quarter.