Germany's insolvent shipyard P+S Werften has seen five existing newbuilding orders being cancelled.
Greenland's Royal Arctic Line (RAL) nullified five newbuilding contracts including a 600TEU boxship, two small general cargoships and two 2,500DWT multi-purpose ships.
The owner already paid around DKK 400m ($70m) for the ice-class ships with refund guarantees in place, reportedly.
RAL is now searching for yard slots for 2014 delivery at other shipyards, mainly in Europe.