Russian company Vyborg shipping, owned by the Oslo Marine (OMG) group postponed the purchase of six container ships worth 315 million kuna from the Uljanik Shipyard (Pula). The main reason for this decision is their financial difficulties. The realization of the sale might just depend on the decision of the Russian bank VTB to approve 600 million dollars of loans to the Russian company. The construction of the ships has not yet begun. ‘

’Because of financing problems we have placed these orders on hold for the next four months. The agreement is still valid, and we are certain that the order will take place as soon as our financial situation improves. We still want the Croatian ships.’’, said Vitalij Arhanđelskij, Director of the OMG for Poslovni Dnevnik. He mentioned that he spoke last week with the management of Uljanik about new agreement conditions, but failed to answer on whether he offered a lower price for the ships and if Uljanik accepts it. Allegedly OMG has not yet paid for the purchase of ships which gives it a good position for negotiating a new price, and it seems that Uljanik cannot demand compensation for the damage resulting from the delay. Poslovni Dnevnik was also informed about the delay from the London office of the Russian company. The agreement for the construction of six container ships designed to carry containers, trucks and various other loads was signed in the summer of 2008. The vessels, each with capacity of 428 standard containers and 1050 cars, were scheduled to be delivered from October 2011 to October 2012. This order was part of the OMG expansion plan, according to which company decided to purchase 30 additional ships. After the financial crisis broke, banks refused to finance OMG projects including the Uljanik purchase. This is why OMG was forced to put 16 contracts on hold, among which is the order from the Polish shipyard Remontow in Gdanjsk and the Dutch Damen shipyard. Dutch representatives confirmed talks on revisal of the contract but refused to say anything about the new prices. According to the source close to the Russian company the ‘’freeze’’ on bank financing is standing in the way of projects worth 760 million dollars. Because of the negative market conditions this situation is not an exception. Carriers are canceling their orders, banks are withdrawing from financing projects, and ships are remaining unused. Uljanik representative commented that the contract has not been cancelled. ‘The information is incorrect’’ said Ivan Palmić, in charge of the sale at Uljanik. ‘’There have not been changes in the contracts’’ declared Hrvoje Markulinčić, the Spokesman of Uljanik Shipyard. He also added that the construction has not yet begun, there have not been any deliveries to the Russian company, and that it is standard practice to sign contracts two years in advance of the construction. The Croatian Shipbuilding Corporation – Jadranbrod, supervising the shipbuilding industry in Croatia is not familiar with the ‘’freeze’’ of orders toward Uljanik, because they gather information directly from the companies. The representative of Jadranbrod in Russia, Mr. Joško Buble is also not familiar with this information.