Ghost Ships

In 2003 British company Able UK completed a deal the US government to dispose of 13 toxic "ghost ships". We acted for objectors to plans by Hartlepool Council to allow four to be dismantled in Teeside yard. The site where the ships are proposed to be scrapped in Hartlepool is adjacent to sensitive wildlife habitats that are protected under European and international law.

According to US Government agency assessments, the fabric of the ships included hundreds of tonnes of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and asbestos, as well as heavy fuel, diesel oil and oily water. Asbestos related diseases (mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer) are thought to kill at least 3,000 people a year and have been particularly serious in the North East. PCBs are recognised as one of the 12 most toxic groups of chemicals worldwide.
The 400 tonnes of the chemicals PCBs present in the first four ships are in a solid state, and therefore there is little risk of them leaking. But once extracted from the ships, waste containing PCBs will be dumped in landfill locally.

The wildlife site most threatened by the Ghost Ships deal was Seal Sands - a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), protected under European and International law. It is an important feeding ground for more than 20,000 birds, with important concentrations of knot and redshank. Nearby mudflats are winter feeding grounds for dunlin, oyster catcher, ringed plover, curlew, bar-tailed godwit, lapwing, grey plover and turnstone. The site could have been damaged by pollution from the ships or from the noise created which could scare the birds from the feeding grounds.

The three Hartlepool residents, whom we represented, were successful in there High Court case against Hartlepool Council and Able UK. In verbally explaining his judgment, Mr. Justice Sullivan was damning about the handling of this affair by the Environment Agency and Hartlepool Council. He called for an inquiry into the decision-making process that led to the "highly unsatisfactory" situation of four ships now being held in Hartlepool without planning permissions or waste management licences. He also stated that he has not yet seen an environment statement covering the scrapping of these ships.

Mike Childs, Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth, said:

"The residents' victory is a real David versus Goliath moment. Three local residents stood up for what they believed in, despite facing the might of the US Government, attacks from Peter Mandelson MP and at times extremely hostile media coverage. Mr. Justice Sullivan's remarks should make the regulators bow their heads in shame. They tried to force these US ships on the people of Hartlepool with no consultation, no adequate exploration of the environmental risks and without proper legal licences in place."

Hartlepool councillors decided on 11 October 2006 not to grant permission to Able UK to allow work to start.