Oslo-listed offshore accommodation rig provider Prosafe looks to be heading to the Norwegian Supreme Court to appeal a recent ruling by a Norwegian Court of Appeal in a case against Westcon related to the conversion of the Safe Scandinavia unit.
The 1984-built Safe Scandinavia is an anchor moored semi-submersible tender support and accommodation vessel with beds for 309 persons capable of operating worldwide in harsh conditions.
The dispute between Westcon Yards and Prosafe relates to a cost overrun of Westcon’s price estimate for the conversion of Prosafe’s Safe Scandinavia into a tender support vessel (TSV). The contract was signed in 2015 and the overrun was described as “significant”.
The conversion project experienced delays which in turn delayed the beginning of the contract with Norwegian oil company Equinor, then Statoil.
Prosafe also claimed that the conversion of the vessel had experienced substantial cost overruns compared to the price estimate given by Westcon when the two entered into the contract.
At the first instance the case was ruled in favour of Prosafe. However, Westcon’s appeal and a counter appeal by Prosafe in 2018 saw the Gulating Court of Appeal on April 15th 2021 reverse a decision of a district court in Norway, ordering Prosafe to pay a total of about $55m to Westcon.
This was a complete reversal of the result in the first instance by the Stavanger District Court, where Westcon was ordered to pay Prosafe NOK344m plus interest and NOK10.6m in legal costs.
Prosafe has decided to “address the shortcomings of the judgement by the Gulating Court of Appeal through an appeal to the Supreme Court”.
The 1984-built, Singapore-flagged, 25,383 gt Safe Scandinavia is currently at Aagotnes Port.