PLANS for the North-East to become Europe's leading scrapyards for "ghost ships" were confirmed yesterday.

Peter Stephenson, chief executive of Able UK, said that there was "real potential for Teesside to become recognised as the European centre of excellence for ship recycling."

He spoke after giving evidence to a committee of MPs in London which is examining the potential to expand the ship recycling scrapyard at Graythorp, near Hartlepool.

Yesterday The Northern Echo reported that a deal for 80 ships from the USA could dwarf the current row over dismantling four US navy ships at the dry dock at Graythorp.

And Mr Stephenson confirmed the plan to expand the enterprise in a statement yesterday. He said: "There is also a major opportunity of attracting business from Europe. A report prepared for the European Commission called for the development of one 'super facility' to undertake ship recycling. We have been developing our facility at Graythorp and it meets the recommendations of that report."

Meanwhile Hartlepool Friends of the Earth, who have campaigned against the dismantling of the ships in the region arguing they are a danger to health, criticised leading Labour MP Austin Mitchell.

Speaking in Westminster Mr Mitchell questioned the information used by the environmentalist group to influence public opinion in the region.

A Hartlepool Friends of the Earth statement said: "We would like to refute Austin Mitchell's allegation. The information used by local campaigners was gathered from a variety of sources but facts and figures on the toxins involved were quoted directly from American government documents."