A FOURTH US "ghost ship" will have to spend at least another day offshore after bad light and tidal conditions prevented it docking in Teesside yesterday.

Three ships are already berthed at the Able UK yard, near Hartlepool, and the cargo vessel Compass Island, the largest of the redundant US fleet, was due to join them yesterday.

The vessel was initially due to arrive at the Able UK yard last Thursday but adverse weather conditions delayed its arrival.

As a result, it was held out to sea ready to dock yesterday morning but once again, the weather prevented it completing the final leg of its controversial journey to Britain.

Able UK is hopeful it will be brought in today.

The company said it would see what the conditions brought today before looking at longer term plans for the rusting vessel, which is being held several miles off Hartlepool.

The arrival of the first two ships, the Caloosahatchee and Canisteo, was met with protests by groups which claim the US ships are an environmental hazard.

They claim they are carrying large quantities of asbestos and dangerous PCB chemicals and should not have been allowed over from America.

The third ship, the Canopus, arrived without any protests because campaigners said they had already made their feelings known and were waiting for the outcome of legal challenges about the future of the ships.

Able UK won a contract to dismantle and recycle 13 vessels from the outdated US fleet sitting in the James River in Virginia.

After protests and legal challenges, a judicial review has been scheduled for the High Court, in London, later this month.

It will determine whether or not the ships can be recycled in Britain or returned to America.The other nine will remain in Virginia until at least next spring, pending legal challenges in the US.

Able UK managing director Peter Stephenson has maintained that the courts would rule that the work should be carried out on Teesside, creating 200 jobs.

Norman Baker, MP for Lewes and the Liberal Democrats spokesman on environmental affairs, criticised Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson during a visit to the yard yesterday.

He said that Mr Mandelson's support for the scheme was harming Hartlepool's reputation.

Mr Baker said "From a London perspective, the two issues that people associate with Hartlepool are a dilapidated scrap yard of ships and Peter Mandelson.

"I am not sure either of those are going to help the tourist trade in this town very much."

During his visit, Mr Baker said the ships should be sent back to the James River in the spring.

For more information, log on to www.ghostships.uk