The Standard Club has appointed Chinese state-backed salvor Guangzhou Salvage to remove the sunken wreck of a Thorco Shipping multipurpose (MPP) ship off the coast of Singapore.

The 10,385-dwt Thorco Cloud (built 2004) sank in December 2015 after a collision with the 37,438-dwt chemical tanker Stolt Commitment (built 2000) that claimed the lives of six seafarers.

The award makes it a near clean sweep for Chinese state-backed companies of the largest and most technically challenging wreck-removal contracts in the market.