Chinese shipbuilder Roncheng Xixiakou Shipyard Co has taken out legal proceedings against Wärtsilä for breach of contract, claiming the engine manufacturer knowingly supplied a reconditioned shore-based power generation engine as a new marine engine for installation in a 12 500dwt multi-purpose vessel ordered by Spliethoff Bevrachtingskanoor.
Roncheng Xixiakou also alleges that the Dutch shipowner colluded with the Finnish engine builder to get out of the shipbuilding contract which was signed in June 2008, an allegation flatly denied by Wärtsilä.
In the 29-page document distributed throughout the Marintec exhibition in Shanghai, China, yesterday, the shipbuilder states that ‘dishonest and fraudulentacts [sic] of Wärtsilä did not only cause great economic loss to our company, but also damages our business reputation and corporate image seriously’.
The curiously worded ‘Open Letter to the Shipbuilding Industry and the Media’, details a catalogue of events that ultimately resulted in the Dutch shipowner withdrawing the two-ship contract in July 2009 due to significant delays.
It is alleged that when the shipbuilder took delivery of one of the W6L46 engines, after a number of changes and modifications to the original ship design, the shipbuilder ‘couldn't install it into the cabin at all, we didn't know that it was a completely different one, not only in model, but also in size.’
However, it was following the unsuccessful seatrials of the first vessel in the series, in March 2011, nine months after the engine was installed, that the shipyard says it discovered the extent of the problem.
Following an investigation into the engine's low lube oil pressure, a Wärtsilä China after-sales service engineer reported via email: ‘Maybe you have already know [sic], the M.E Lub. Pressure is lower than the normal operation pressure... We look back the engine history [sic]. Spliethoff bought an old Wärtsilä engine from somewhere, then re-furbished it in a workshop in Netherland [sic]. Finally, Spliethoff sold the engine to Wärtsilä again. This is where the engine come [sic] from.’
A copy of the email was included in the document.
The shipbuilder says in the document, seen by Shipping World & Shipbuilder, that the after-sales engineer ‘got a very shocking finding that the engine is a refurbished second-hand one which formerly had generated electricity on shore [sic].’
The shipbuilder further alleges that after providing notice of its intention to file a lawsuit, the enginebuilder threatened the yard, refusing to provide main engine debugging services for another ship it was building. ‘Such pirate actions! Such despicable behaviors! It is bare robbing! Nude blackmailing!' sates the shipbuilder in the letter.
Wärtsilä refutes the claims. 'We have not threatened the yard. It is a totally false statement,' said a press spokesman for Wärtsilä China.
Speaking to Shipping World & Shipbuilder in Shanghai, the director sales merchant and general manager of ship power, Wärtsilä China, Rolf Stiefel, told us: ‘It is definitely not true. We did have a contract with the yard and there is an ongoing legal dispute relating to outstanding issues but I cannot confirm any of the allegations. From our part, it was a new engine, it was not reconditioned or second-hand. The allegations are not justified.’
However, while adamant that the engine supplied was not a used one, Stiefel did reveal that it had been in storage for some time. ‘This is an ongoing case and a difficult situation, but we are trying to reach a settlement,’ he said.
Shipping World & Shipbuilder was unable to contact the Dutch shipowner for comment.