Shipping chiefs will today announce whether a North-East man involved in the 1989 Marchioness riverboat tragedy is fit to hold a British master's certificate.

Captain Douglas Henderson, from Throckley, Newcastle, was captain of the dredger Bowbelle, which collided with the Marchioness in an accident which claimed 51 lives.

Capt Henderson was strongly criticised in the Marchioness public inquiry report that said he failed to set up a proper lookout on the night of the accident, on the River Thames, in central London.

Although the alcohol from the six pints of lager Capt Henderson had drunk on the afternoon of the accident would have cleared his bloodstream, the inquiry report "strongly deprecated" his conduct in consuming so much.

The question of Capt Henderson's master's certificate has been considered by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, whose chief executive, Maurice Storey, will today present the findings to the Marchioness families, in London.

In his March 2001 report, Marchioness inquiry chairman Lord Justice Clarke held back from recommending any disciplinary action against Capt Henderson on the grounds of the amount of time that had elapsed and on human rights grounds.

But Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said at the time he was referring the entire Clarke report to the Director of Public Prosecutions "for him to consider whether action would be appropriate against Captain Henderson or any other party".

But he added: "The preliminary advice that I have received is that there is little prospect of a successful prosecution of Captain Henderson."

Yesterday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the matter was still under consideration and that no decision was imminent.

Capt Henderson was tried in 1991 on a charge of failing to keep a proper look-out. The jury failed to reach a verdict, as did another jury at a second trial, and Capt Henderson was formally acquitted.

In 1995, an inquest jury returned the verdict that the Marchioness dead were "unlawfully killed".

The following year the CPS concluded there was insufficient evidence to justify any further criminal proceedings.

The Clarke report criticised Capt Henderson for not broadcasting a Mayday signal after the accident, and for not deploying his vessel's lifebuoys and liferaft.