13 November 2003 – Battling Able UK today pledged: "We will make the ghost ship deal happen".

Peter Stephenson insisted the deal would go ahead telling a government regulator all legal permissions were in place.

The company's legal team is now waiting for the Environment Agency (EA) to reply to a letter demanding it withdraw statements that the company's licences needed to do the deal were "invalid".

The demand came as the second of the first pair of ships prepared for its arrival at the Greythorp dock at Hartlepool, pictured here off the coast of Redcar today.

And today a committee of MPs said they will hold a one-day hearing to discuss the kerfuffle surrounding the so-called ghost ships.

The row between Able, the company recycling the ships at its Graythorp yard, and the EA flared after the agency withdrew a previously granted licence to import and scrap the ships.

It said other consents the company needed in place were not correct.

Because the licence was not valid, the agency has since ordered the ships to be returned to America.

That has angered Able and today managing director Mr Stephenson demanded the EA withdraw its claims.

Mr Stephenson said: "There is no reason whatsoever we shouldn't dismantle these ships here.

"We will definitely make this deal happen.

"They say our authorisations are invalid so the ships have to be returned to America and that's incorrect.

"We have never imported ships from America before so we contacted the Environment Agency and asked what we needed to do. We followed their advice, completed their forms and our client (the US government department sending the ships to Able for recycling) did the same. They gave us the licence and just over a week ago came to see us and said it was not valid. Our legal position has never changed all we're doing is reinforcing that advice.

"Our legal people have written to them and said the licences are valid and have asked the EA to withdraw the damaging statements they have made about us."

Bob Pailor of the Environment Agency said there was "ongoing dialogue between our solicitors and Able's legal team to clarify the issues between us".

The "ghost ships" are old US Naval vessels sent to Able UK's Graythorp yard for recycling.

Over 98pc of the material on the first two ships, including steel, oil and waste water, will be recycled.

But there will also be over 100 tonnes of asbestos, and a quantity of cancer-linked PCBs, taken from the ships and dumped in a landfill site at Seaton Carew.

When Able UK said it had landed the recycling deal in July eco-groups were outraged and have demanded to know why America could not handle its own waste.

The war of words has flared as the second ghost ship, the Canisteo, arrives at Graythorp today.

The procedure to bring the 10,723 tonne ship up the Tees was expected to start at about 1pm.

The first ship, the Caloosahatchee, docked at Graythorp yesterday under the gaze of the world's press.

Angry residents, Conservative shadow environment secretary Caroline Spelman and Friends of the Earth's executive director Tony Juniper yesterday demanded an inquiry into the deal.

Speaking yesterday Mr Juniper said: "The legality of this process could not be more shaky.

"These ships should not be in the UK, but now that they are, everything must be done to ensure they are stored safely, given their proximity to an important international wildlife site. These vessels must be made safe to return to the United States as soon as possible."

Today it has also emerged that MPs on the House of Commons' environment, food and rural affairs committee will investigate the affair next week. The committee will hear from Environment Agency and Environment Minister Elliot Morley.

The committee's Tory chairman Michael Jack said the committee launched its investigation as the issue was a matter of public importance.

"We want to discover how at one time the agency consented for these vessels to be dismantled in the United Kingdom and now the mission has been withdrawn for reasons which are not entirely clear," he said.

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