Hull underwriters have again failed in an attempt to recover a $22m payout for a fraudulent claim in the case of a scuttled bulker.

The UK court of appeal turned down a bid by insurers led by Aspen Underwriting to recover money it paid to settle the total loss of the 27,209-dwt geared bulker Atlantik Confidence (built 1996) in the Gulf of Aden in 2013, although it was deliberately sunk by the master and chief engineer on the instructions of Turkish shipowner Ahmet Ali Agaoglu.