Critics are up in arms as another US “ghost ship” – a decommissioned Navy vessel – makes it way to a shipbreaking yard in the town of Hartlepool, England for dismantling. This is the fifth asbestos-laden ghost ship to be sent to the Able UK shipyard for this purpose.

An article in the Northern Echo reports that Able UK confirmed last night that it had a contract to dismantle a ship containing more asbestos-contaminated material than all four previous ships combined.

Critics say the U.S. should not be exporting toxic materials but the English firm argues that the business could create hundreds of jobs. The company also has world-class facilities to carry out such a contract, they stress.

The article also revealed that the Hartlepool firm “has applied for an exemption from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) so the latest vessel can be dismantled and recycled.”advertisemen

Able needs special permission for the shipbreaking because the vessel, which is arriving from Europe, contains about 700 tonnes of contaminated materials and it is illegal to import asbestos to the UK.

“We have had major concerns over the consultation on this matter, having not been made aware of Able UK’s application for an exemption,” said a spokesman for the environmental group Friends of Hartlepool.

Hartlepool councillor Stephen Allison said it was “vital for public confidence that local residents were kept informed and that both Able and the authorities involved ‘went the extra mile’ to reassure them over the company’s plans.”

However, in November, the company was fined £22,000 after it failed to dispose of asbestos properly on two occasions at its Seaton Meadows landfill site in Hartlepool. The company blamed a subcontractor for the infraction.

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