Stolt Tankers and SLS Shipbuilding go to court over tanker cancellation

Stolt Tankers B.V., a subsidiary of Stolt-Nielsen, has announced that SLS Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. of South Korea has taken Stolt Tankers B.V. to arbitration to challenge the cancellation of a contract for the construction of a 44,000 dwt coated parcel tanker, the first in a series of four ships, announced on March 18, 2009. The ship was originally scheduled for delivery in May 2008. The ruling by the arbitration panel will follow English law. SLS is in a precarious state with a number of its orderbook rumoured to be hit hard by the credit crunch.