A HUGE aircraft carrier containing 700 tonnes of asbestos which has been refused entry across Europe and Asia will be dismantled in Hartlepool.
Able UK, the company at the centre of the controversial ghost ship fleet, has won a contract, worth between 2.5m to 4m euros – £1.98m to £3.16m – from the French Ministry of Defence to dismantle the 700ft former aircraft carrier, the Q790.
The news has sparked outrage from environmental groups which don't want the vessel dismantling in town after it was turned away by the Indian Supreme Court in December 2005.
The ship, which was formerly known as the Clemenceau, is expected to arrive at Able UK's Seaton Port, in Graythorp, on the outskirts of town, in mid-August.
More Clemenceau news>>Bringing ship here a 'travesty'Greenpeace opposed to break upLe Clemenceau factfileThe work is expected to take 10 months to complete and the recycling project will be the biggest handled by a European yard.
In 2003, Spanish ship breakers attempted to export the Clemenceau to Turkey, but failed when the Turks refused to accept it.
In the same year, a German broker's attempt to export the ship to Bangladesh, following decontamination in Greece, failed when Greece refused entry.
The Clemenceau will now be broken up in Hartlepool.
The vessel contains 700 tonnes of asbestos-containing materials and it will be dismantled and recycled at Able UK's Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre (TERRC).
The vessel will be recycled alongside the four vessels from the American National Defence Reserve Fleet and three UK ships which are already berthed at Graythorp.
The US ships are the Canopus, Compass Island, Caloosahatchee and Canisteo.
Able UK has pumped more than £30m into the site since Hartlepool Borough Council granted planning permission in October last year.
The planning permission allows Able UK to extend the current use of the Graythorp site to include the construction, repair, refurbishment and decommissioning of all types of ships, vessels and marine structures.
The chairman of Able UK, Peter Stephenson, said the contract would ensure the TERRC site leads the way in ship recycling.
Mr Stephenson said: "This has been underlined with the decision by the French authorities that we should undertake the work on the Clemenceau which will be the biggest ship recycling project so far handled by any European yard.
"With the largest dry dock in the world, we can easily undertake the work on the Clemenceau and other vessels at TERRC while continuing with other projects, such as the assembly work for the SeaDragon semi submersible drilling rig project and the construction of wind turbines.
Last week, the Mail announced that Able UK had been granted a waste management licence and an exemption from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to bring in the ship which contains 700 tonnes of asbestos.
The work to scrap the ghost ship fleet is expected to create an immediate 170 full time jobs in the town and work is due to start with three to four weeks.
Mr Stephenson added: "The granting of our waste management licence, the clearance by the health and safety executive for the Q790 and the confirmation of the award of the Q790 contract justify the huge efforts and resources that have been invested to put this area at the forefront of an industry which has enormous potential for growth in the years ahead."
Ghost ships work gets green light>>The full article contains 592 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
