In a landmark ruling, the UK court of appeal has ordered Japan's MOL to compensate Total for a halted voyage after the Japanese owner's VLCC hit an underwater object in the Suez Canal.

The French oil major's CSSA Chartering and Shipping Services had been awarded $1.2m in a 2017 commercial court judgement following the aborted trip in 2015.

The 302,000-dwt VLCC Pacific Voyager (built 2009) had been booked that January for a voayge from Rotterdam to Asia.