Svitzer Marine has been fined £2m ($2.4m) by a UK court after unsafe practices led to the “avoidable” death of a chief engineer aboard one of its tugs.

The Maersk company pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to “failing to operate a vessel safely and failing to provide a safe system of work”.

Ian Webb, 62, died on 27 January 2019, after falling overboard from Svitzer Marine’s tug Millgarth as it cast off from the Tranmere north jetty, in the river Mersey, in storm force conditions.