THE firm which wants to scrap a toxic fleet of former US Navy ships last night played down the possibility of a further 36 heading to the North-East.

But Able UK again repeated its desire to bring more redundant vessels to its Hartlepool base, not withstanding the 13 for which it has a contract to dismantle.

It was revealed last night that the US Maritime Administration (Marad) is to ask a US court for permission that a further 36 can be towed to the UK.

However, the move appeared to be a technicality with Able claiming that it was simply choosing nine ships to be scrapped from a list of 36 made available to it.

Nine vessels which form part of Able's contract with Marad have been delayed in the US by legal wrangling.

As a result, Marad now wants to substitute the outstanding nine which are now being scrapped elsewhere, for another nine which require less urgent work.

Peter Stephenson, managing director of Able UK, said: "What Marad is actually applying for is an exemption to be able to release 36 ships to our company, but it does not mean that we will get 36."

He said that they would decide between them which of the nine Able would take.

"Hopefully, when we have done that we may be successful and get some more ships from it," he said.

Last month, Mr Stephenson revealed Able UK had "an option" to bring over about half of America's 165 redundant ships and said it hoped to become Europe's leading scrapyard for such vessels.

Four of the 13 so-called ghost ships it has a contract to break up are already docked in Hartlepool after crossing the Atlantic and are awaiting permission for work to begin.

Stephen Allison, UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate in the forthcoming Hartlepool by-election, said: "I think the four that are here are four too many and any additional ones need to be stopped quickly.

"The subtext to all this is that it could open the door for decommissioning of British nuclear vessels in the future.

"I'm not a jobs at any cost man and if you establish an image of Hartlepool as the scrapping capital of Europe then the nice clean jobs are never going to come here."

Read more about the Ghost Ships campaign here.