The director of a Greek shipping company celebrated with a pint of Guinness yesterday after paying €410,000 at an auction to buy a Belize-registered ship impounded at the port of New Ross.
Ioannis Nomikos said the MV Lillianwas "not a bargain" but he had paid "the right price for a good ship".
He plans to sail the ship back to the Greek port of Piraeus where his family companies, Nomikos Brothers Shipbrokers and Oia Maritime, have been involved in commercial and ferry shipping for "100 years". The sale had been ordered by High Court judge Mr Justice Paul Butler to settle demands from creditors.
The auction was conducted by Cork auctioneer Dominic Daly at the Mount Brandon Hotel and was attended by representatives of Irish, Indian, British, Greek, Dutch and Panamanian shipping companies.
When Mr Daly called for an opening bid shortly after noon, Constantine Poupakis, a director of European Truck Ferries in Athens, made an opening bid of €5,000. But he was quickly left behind as bidders, taking instruction by mobile phone, forced the price up in multiples of €5,000, and then €10,000. After 10 minutes of intense bidding, the hammer came down at €410,000 and Mr Daly announced: "Sold to Mr Nomikos."
The new owner of the MV Lillian, went to the dockside to view his new purchase, while the auctioneer said he was "very pleased with the outcome and the strong level of bidding".
The 2,500-tonne container ship was arrested in May after a Laois company, Midland Steel, complained a cargo of steel rods it was importing had been damaged during the voyage from Turkey.
A subsequent investigation found defects in the vessel and discovered that the nine Russian crew members had not been paid since boarding the ship in April.
Ken Fleming of Siptu, who attended the auction, described the ship as "a floating sweatshop" and said he hoped the sailors, who returned to Russia last week, would now be paid. The crew is engaged in High Court proceedings for unpaid wages estimated at about €90,000.
The High Court's admiralty marshal, Paula Healy, said the matter would now return to the High Court, which "will assess the claims in the autumn". She said there were three other creditors suing for damages: Midland Steel; Swedish company Hanson & Mohring AB; and a Russian company, Pro Shipping Services Ltd.
It has emerged that the ship, built in the Netherlands in 1977, was registered in Belize to Highbridge Ltd but is actually controlled by a Latvian company, IBMS. The crew was hired by a Russian company in St Petersburg.