The 1971-built Discovery was taken for $5m - well below its estimated price - even though ALG received higher offers but with weaker cash flow profiles.

In February, the UK company wrote down the value of Discovery to approximately £9.9m ($15.8m) and decided to sell it.

ALG said it took into account the absence of future liabilities as the ship generated losses of more than £3m for the year ended 31 October 2013.

According