LONDON - The first of 13 American ships due to be scrapped in Britain has sailed into port at Hartlepool, to cries of protest from environmentalists who have won a first round in a campaign to stop their dismantling.
They say the ships, built with asbestos and possibly containing traces ofother chemicals, are toxic and poisonous.
The Government says that is going too far but has suspended permission for scrapping, a decision now under appeal.
The decrepit former United States Navy oil tanker Caloosahatchee was the first of the so-called "ghost ships", a fleet of craft dating back as far as World War II, to arrive in the northern British port yesterday.
"We don't want these ships in the UK," said Mike Childs, British campaigns director for Friends of the Earth. "America has the capacity to deal with its own waste and the moral obligation to do so."
The ships are due be scrapped by a British firm under a contract worth £10 million ($26.6 million).
But as the rusty tanker pulled into dock on the Tees River - in the shadow of a nuclear power plant and towering smokestacks - some locals said the fuss was over nothing.
"These ships have ended their useful life and we need the work in this area," said carpenter Eddie Moir, 59. "That's all there is to it. We're living in one of the biggest chemical complexes in Europe and this won't make any difference."
Three more ships are on their way, while another nine are waiting in the US for permission to sail.
Campaigners have persuaded Britain's Environment Agency to withdraw permission for the scrapping, leaving the ships' fate unclear.
The four that have already left the US have permission to continue and dock while the demolition firm, Able UK, contests the case in court.
The Environment Agency said it had ordered the waters be monitored and no dismantling begin, but played down any danger.
"Descriptions of the vessels as 'toxic' and 'poisonous' are not based on fact," agency head Barbara Young said.
