The world’s leading salvage companies have been asked to bid for the wreck removal of a grounded bulker in what is expected be a hotly contested tender.

The 17,700-dwt bulker Raysut II (built 1984) has been hard aground at Fazayah Beach near the port of Salalah, Oman, since the end of May, when it was hit by Cyclone Mekunu while laden with a cargo of cement powder.