According to GMS the 300,500-dwt Samho Crown (built 1996) was sold “as is” at auction for $490 per ldt, which amounts to a payday of approximately $20.8m.

In a note to clients the firm, which bills itself as the world’s largest buyer of scrap tonnage, pointed out that the tanker used to be controlled by Samho Shipping of Japan.

“[The sale] brings to an end the tale of a sorry saga for a vessel that had undergone hijacking, arrests, bankruptcy of its owners, and has remained laid up at its present location for some years, awaiting the Dubai Sheriff to toll its final death knell,” it added.

GMS