Second US 'ghost ship' ready to dock in UK

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 14, 2003

Second US 'ghost ship' ready to dock in UK

A second former US navy ship from "ghost fleet" at the center of an environmental and legal row is due to dock at Hartlepool, north east England, on Thursday.

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A second former US navy ship from "ghost fleet" at the center of an environmental and legal row is due to dock at Hartlepool, north east England, on Thursday.

The first of the so-called "ghost ships," the Caloosahatchee, arrived at Able UK's yard on Wednesday, in the outcries of British environmentalists who have won a first round in their campaign to stop the company from scrapping the aging oil tanker in Britain.

The firm had an 11-million-pound (18.4-million-US dollar) contract to dismantle 13 of the ships, dating back to World War II, but the High Court has ruled no work can be carried out on any of the ships until legal challenges have been heard.

Just four of the ships have set out on the transatlantic journey and on Thursday the second, the Canisteo, is due to dock at the yard.

Opponents of the controversial deal say the old ships, built with asbestos and possibly containing traces of such other chemicals as PCBs, are toxic and poisonous and the government has suspended permission for scrapping, a decision now under appeal.

The government has said the Caloosahatchee and a sister ship can be stored temporarily on River Tees, but should be sent back to the United States. The Caloosahatchee and the Canisteo left theJames River in Virginia on Oct. 6. Two further ships are on their way across the Atlantic.

Discussions are under way with the US authorities about sending back the other two ships which are just days behind the first two ships.

Business leaders in the region issued a statement backing Able UK and criticized the way the situation had been handled.

Protesters have called for a public inquiry into the government's handling of the affair.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen but is denser than water and insoluble. PCBs have been called "probable carcinogens" and have been linked with neurological and developmental problems in human

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