With the two-year pursuit of Belgian tanker owner Euronav now seemingly failed and left to the lawyers to sort the blame, Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen this week shifted his attention across the Atlantic to another target, albeit hardly a new one.

New York-based International Seaways has been on Fredriksen’s consolidation radar since at least 2008, when it was still known as the “old” Overseas Shipholding Group, but it has proved to be an elusive prize for shipping’s greatest dealmaker.