Sembcorp Marine to pursue claim against Marco Polo Marine

SEMBCORP Marine says it will pursue its claim against Marco Polo Marine - either by continuing the action in the Singapore High Court, or at arbitration proceedings.

This comes after the High Court had on April 22 granted Marco Polo Marine's application for a stay of the entirety of the court proceedings instituted by Sembcorp subsidiary PPL Shipyard (PPLS), in favour of arbitration.

The stay of action is not a dismissal of PPLS's claim against Marco Polo Marine for the amounts due under the contract, stressed Sembcorp Marine in an announcement early Tuesday morning.

"PPLS will pursue the claim either by way of an appeal against the stay to continue the action in the High Court, or pursue the claim at the arbitration proceedings," said Sembcorp Marine.

Still, the Court has ordered costs of the application to be paid by PPLS to Marco Polo Marine on an indemnity basis.

PPLS commenced an action in the High Court on Dec 1, 2015, against Marco Polo Marine (the parent company of Marco Polo Drilling and the guarantor), regarding a jack-up rig construction contract.

This was after Marco Polo Drilling failed to pay the second disbursement of 10 per cent of the contract price, amounting to US$21.43 million, by Nov 30, 2015.

On April 7, PPLS also commenced arbitration proceedings against Marco Polo Drilling - something the former said it is "vigorously pursuing".