A Quebec judge has given AbitibiBowater approval to switch ocean shippers carrying its paper to offshore markets.

The switch will save $12.1 million over five years.

“We’re trying to save and reduce costs in every fashion we can,” company spokesman Jean-Philippe Cote said Wednesday.

Following on its success in terminating and renegotiating a contract to supply wood chips and bark to SFK Pulp, AbitibiBowater has prematurely cancelled its contract with Spliethoff Transport B.V. to ship its products to the Caribbean and Mediterranean regions.

After the shipper refused to reduce its prices and agree to other contractual changes, Abitibi switched to Wagenborg Shipping.

Spliethoff challenged the decision to end terminate the eight-year agreement slated to run until January 2013. But Justice Daniele Mayrand refused to interfere with Abitibi’s decision.

She rejected Spliethoff’s claims that Abitibi had acted in bad faith saying the shipper took a “calculated risk” in eventually filing a proposal it acknowledged was “far from what” Abitibi had demanded.

Read more:
AbitibiBowater gets court approval for nearly $5 million in annual cost savings (Fort Frances Times)