A court has ordered the sale of a ship anchored off Malta since March after its owners went bankrupt. The ship will be sold for €4.5 million at the request of a Russian bank.

The Pacific Future was detained after the issue of an arrest warrant following a claim of €790,904 by Russian-owned Amsterdam Trade Bank NV.

In  June, Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti awarded €345,000 in compensation to the 27 Ukrainian crew members following a request by Paul Falzon, the local representative of the International Transport Federation, against the Pacific Future whose owners are Liberian society Machiko Carriers.

During the court case, the owners of the ship objected to the sale of the ship arguing that the price offered of €4.5 million did not reflect the true market value of the ship, adding that it was worth far much more.

The court heard an expert appointed by the company, engineer Paul Cardona Who testified that similar ships had sold for between seven and eight million euro.

Mr Justice Chetcuti said that the ship was not in a good state, had not been certified and still had to be taken to the Ukraine. He deemed the €4.5 million to be a reasonable price.