5 November 2003 – What is wrong with these ships?

The four ships on their way to England are part of a 70-strong "ghost fleet" of World War II-era US navy ships considered obsolete, and in need of disposal.

The rest are currently moored off Fort Eustis in Virginia as part of the US navy's reserve fleet.

There was a lot of argument about how to dispose of the fleet in America, but it was agreed the four ships and nine others still in the US would form a pilot project, authorised by Congress, to be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

A contract worth nearly $15m (£9m) was awarded to Post-Service Remediation Partners of New York, which is now a subsidiary of Able UK.

The company has a ship yard in Hartlepool on Teesside - and that is where the ships are heading.

Two of the four ships - the Canisteo and the Caloosahatchee - were oil tankers, but the ships also contain toxins like asbestos, lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

According to America's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the health effects that have been associated with exposure to PCBs include acne-like skin conditions in adults and neurobehavioral and immunological changes in children.

PCBs are also known to cause cancer in animals.

Why can't America deal with them themselves?

According to Earthjustice, the legal group working for the environmentialists in the US opposing the movement of the "ghost fleet", the technology to recycle the ships does exist in Virginia.

A report published by America's General Accounting Office in 1991 suggested scrapping the reserve fleet could generate about $10m (£6m) in direct maintenance costs over ten years.

The report also said the move would generate an estimated $38m to $42m (£22.7m to £25.1m) to improve the ready reserve force - which include ships routinely mantained so they could be put into active service within days.

The report goes on to say that as domestic firms bid considerably lower than foreign ones, selling to a US firm would considerably reduce this revenue.

What are the environmental/health hazards associated with them?

The environmentalists in America and the UK fighting the arrival of the ships say they are very old and fragile, could break up at any time in stormy seas and that some have already leaked oil at the base in Virginia.

Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says Able's site in the UK is close to important wildlife sites, and there have been no cast-iron guarantees that recycling work will not have adverse impacts on the ecosystem in Teesside.

The environmental groups in the US say they should be returned directly to a recycling facility in America, but only in favourable weather conditions and with an emergency response vessel accompanying them.

But Able UK, the contractor, says this is all scaremongering and there is no more risk to the marine environment than from any other ship on the high seas.

Company managers say the contract would create about 200 jobs.

Where are the ships now, exactly?

Difficult to say. The ships are being tugged at four knots [four nautical miles an hour], and are heading towards Britain.

They are expected to reach British water by the weekend, and Hartlepool - if they get that far - by early next week, although the schedule will be affected by weather conditions.

What is the legal situation now?

In Britain a High Court judge has granted an injunction, banning any work taking place on the ships, until the week beginning 8 December, and demanding that if the ships come to port, no work should take place on them except for measures to make and keep them safe.

The court will hear legal argument from the environmental group, Friends of the Earth, that a modification to the licence that allowed Able UK to recycle the ship is invalid - and anyway, the licence does not cover ships.

In addition, the Environment Agency say there are a variety of other permissions and authorisations Able UK need to carry out the work.

These include planning permission to construct a dry dock facility, two separate licences required from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for dredging and for building of a protective area to create the proposed dry dock facility, and a lease from the Crown Estate for the protective area.

How is it likely to be resolved?

In the courtroom. The legal argument will resolve whether the ship can be recycled in the UK, but there is nothing to stop them arriving in UK waters.

The Environment Agency has suggested they should return to the US but at present no official organisation seems minded to stop them.