Great Eastern Shipping boss Bharat Sheth has admitted he is keen to update his ageing tanker fleet, but prices remain a problem.

India’s largest private shipowner, listed in Mumbai, has 10 crude and product tankers built between 2003 and 2005, with most of the rest constructed from 2007 to 2012.

Great Eastern’s bulker and offshore support vessel fleet is generally more modern, but two of the LPG ships were built in 1997 and 2002.