PLANS to break-up obsolete US ships in the North-East could be scuppered by a landmark international ruling made at the weekend, environmentalists said last night.

The Basel Convention, to which Britain is one of 163 signatory nations, has decided that ships taken out of service should be considered toxic waste and that their movement be minimised and export strictly controlled.

The move came as Able UK awaits the outcome of a US court hearing on the fate of nine rusting hulks due to be towed across the Atlantic, to be dismantled at its Hartlepool yard -part of an £11m contract to break up 13 mothballed ships. Four have already arrived.

Environment groups are demanding the ships do not leave their anchorage on the James River, Virginia, for Britain, because of their corroded state.

Environment groups Greenpeace and the Basel Action Network (Ban) said the convention's weekend decision was a blow to the global trade in "toxic ships".

Friends of the Earth campaign director Mike Childs said: "It is a defeat for those that argued that the ghost fleet ships should not be considered toxic and that the trade in scrap ships should go unhindered.

"Most of all, it is a victory for the environment and commonsense."

Iris Ryder, Friends of the Earth's Hartlepool co-ordinator, said: "The residents of Hartlepool have been fighting the import of these ships for over a year. Obviously we are delighted that commonsense has prevailed.

"I hope that this latest ruling will enable the contract -including the ships that are here -to be removed from our shores, and I hope that Able UK have learned a valuable lesson from this."

A spokesman for Able last night said the company was aware discussions had been taking place at the weekend, but said the company could not comment further.

The US Government said that despite the Basel decision, it did not regard obsolete ships as waste.

Read more about the Ghost Ships campaign here.