North East and Cumbria: See, no ships!

Gerry Jackson Politics Show, North East and Cumbria

Your comments on the Ghost ships

Should the 'ghost fleet' find a home on Teesside?

US ghost fleet in the James River, Virginia

Sailors down the ages have told legends of 'ghost ships', vessels crewed by the souls of lost mariners, condemned to sail the seven seas for all eternity.

Rather less romantic is today's ghost fleet ... a very real flotilla of rusting hulks inching their way across the Atlantic.

Their compasses point to Hartlepool, but they've been marooned in a political stand-off.

Rough Passage

At first glance it might have looked straightforward.

A British recycling company does a deal with an American yard full of decommissioned US Navy ships.

The firm, Able UK, will strip the carcasses of toxic substances, including asbestos.

It is a big contract, 13 ships in all, but Able says it is well within its capabilities.

But then things go wrong.

Able will need to build a dry dock to carry out the work.

It believes it has local planning permission.

"Oh no you don't" says Hartlepool Council.

This comes as a surprise to the company, which believed the council was supportive.

It already has a waste management licence from the government.

But the Environment Agency then announces that the licence is invalid because there is no planning permission!

By this time, four of the ships are well on their way ...

November 3 2003; Go West

Will they be turned back in mid voyage?

Campaigners who oppose the deal redouble their efforts, and the Environment Minister faces awkward questions in the Commons.

He wants the vessels to return to America while it is all sorted out, but cannot order the company to turn them around.

Since the Americans don't want them back, they sail on.

November 5 2003; I See No Ships - Yet

On 5 November, Friends of the Earth asked the High Court to order a halt.

The court says the ships can complete their journey, but the company can't begin to dismantle them.

The government goes a step further, and warns the company that even docking the ships will be illegal.

And the latest ... the government allows two of the vessels to dock in Hartlepool while it continues to try to persuade the Americans to take the ships back, a month after they left the USA.

What Now?

There is a wider question here. Whatever happens to this ghost fleet, should our region be in the business of dealing with toxic substances from other nations?

Should companies who specialise in the industry be shackled?

Or is this the kind of work that helps the economy of an industrial region like Teesside ... work we should not be turning our noses up against?

The Politics Show

See more on the story with Mary Askew and Tony Baker, on the Politics Show, on Sunday 09 November at midday on BBC1.

Have your say

So what do you think? Watch the programme and give us your view.

Send in your comments on the form below.

Join the Politics Show presenters Mary Askew and Tony Baker, on BBC One on Sundays at Noon.

Your views on recycling from last weeks programme!

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