An Active Shipping-connected tanker is set to go under the gavel next month after a nine-month legal battle over a package of ship mortgages in default.

The 115,395-dwt Pacific Sky (built 2009) will be auctioned on 16 December at the US federal courthouse in Lafayette, Louisiana, at the behest of Nassau Maritime Holdings Designated Activity Co.

"Pacific Sky has now had nearly seven months since the vessel's arrest to secure financing or otherwise negotiate terms for its release," US District Judge James Cain wrote in his order granting the sale.