America is searching worldwide for ports to dismantle its decommissioned toxic "ghost fleet'', according to a Washington Post report.

Ports in China, Mexico, Scotland and Wales are on the US shortlist because of cheaper labour costs and looser environmental regulations.

Officials from the US maritime administration and the country's environmental protection agency were due to meet in Beijing yesterday and today with their counterparts from China's state environmental protection administration.

They would then travel to Shanghai and Guangzhou for more talks and to inspect shipyards, the report said.

The US embassy in Beijing did not return calls last night.

The "ghost fleet'' of 71 obsolete ships is currently anchored in the James River, Virginia state, with another 51 in California.

Half of the James River fleet are at least 50 years old.

Some are breaking up and contain cancer-causing materials including asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

They also still hold almost 60 million litres of fuel and oil.

Rather than dismantling them in US scrapyards, Washington wants the ships sent abroad, snubbing a convention forbidding exports of hazardous waste.

The US exported about 200 ships between 1983 and 1994, but the Clinton administration halted the practice five years ago because of reports of unhealthy conditions for ship cutters in India and Bangladesh working without protective clothing.

Greenpeace Hong Kong campaigner Miranda Yip said the organisation informed mainland officials three months ago about the US government's plans.

"We told the government to watch out for such toxic stuff, because they have agreed the Basel Convention and ratified it,'' Yip said.

"If we find out that the ships really are going to China, we will be issuing letters or considering action to pinpoint the US government's responsibility to decontaminate the ships first before they send them to another country.''

The Basel Convention is a framework for the cross-border shipment and disposal of hazardous waste.

It was adopted in 1989 and spawned the Basel Ban, which in 1994 prohibited exports of waste from the world's 29 most industrialised countries to poorer ones.

Countries that have ratified the convention and the ban include China, most European Union countries and Malaysia.

Those that have not include the US, Australia and Canada.

Back in Virginia, the ships are causing concern.

Riverkeeper for the James River Association, Lynne Ridley, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying the fleet "is a ticking time bomb''.

The newspaper said a US government department had found some hulls "have deteriorated to a point where a hammer can penetrate'', unleashing an environmental catastrophe.

Hence the Bush administration's decision to clear the fleet by 2006.

Jim Puckett, of the Seattle-based Basel Action Network that monitors threats to the convention, was quoted as saying toxins on board would be handled by the world's poorest people and not in the "backyard'' of the country that used the ships.

"It equates to an export of pollution and disease simply because our government wants to save a buck,'' he said.

It would cost at least US$300 million (HK$2.34 billion) to scrap the fleet properly in the US, the report said.

More than 70 people are employed to keep the James River fleet upright, costing US$2 million annually.

Virginia officials said they were worried about the effects future strong tides and hurricanes might have.

Some were torn from their moorings during storms in 1954 and 1999, while strong tides could increase the chances of ruptured hulls, experts said.

The Virginia government has warned it would sue its federal counterpart if the ships were not moved or their contents emptied.

But towing the ships to scrapyards presents problems.

Nearly 259,000 litres of oil almost spilled on Miami Beach in December 2001 when the USS Wayne Victory split while being towed to Texas, the report said.

Greenpeace does not know which Guangdong shipyards could receive the ships, while US officials would not say.

Greenpeace vessels probably would not try to prevent the ships entering Chinese waters. "About two years ago we did direct action in Shanghai, and that was not welcomed by the authorities," Yip said.