An Italian shipowner has failed in a final attempt to wring a payout of more than $20m from a panel of war risks underwriters for the confiscation of a handysize bulker involved in an attempt to smuggle cocaine from Venezuela.

The UK supreme court rejected a bid by the Enrico Bogazzi-linked company Bnavios Navegacao and its successor Atlasnavios Navegacao to overturn a 2016 appeal court ruling in the long-running case of the 38,000-dwt B Atlantic (built 1983).