Speaking in a country straining under the double weight of a shipping and national debt crisis, the tall American predicted that owners were sitting on the best opportunity they had seen since the mid-1980s.

“Fortunes will be made,” the then chief executive of Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) declared, four years into the deepest industry recession in a generation.

Although owners were not quite crying into their champagne two years ago, such a positive outlook was greeted with scepticism, Arntzen remembers.