One of the world's first polar expedition cruiseships is being scrapped after it was forced out of the market by dozens of newbuildings coming online.

MK Sakhalin-Kurily PJSC’s 2,100-gt ice-classed cruiseship Polaris (built 1968) is in the process of being scrapped in the South Korean port of Busan.

Brokers said the ship had been laid up there for several years while Russia's Sakhalin-Kurily sought a trading buyer.