Three 'ghost ships' bound for dismantling on Teesside are to be recycled in America.
The head of MARAD, the US Government department responsible for the ships, said a Texas yard would break up the American Banke, the Mormac Moon and the Santa Cruz instead of Able UK.
But the official stood by MARAD's £11m deal with Graythorp-based Able and said it still intended the Teesside firm to dispose of a total of 13 obsolete vessels from the US ghost fleet.
Managing director Peter Stephenson said the move was just the US getting rid of its environmentally highest-risk ships as quickly as possible while Able clears legal hurdles blocking the work.
He said: "Theoretically these ships being dealt with in America means the ships we receive should be in better shape.
"But realistically we would only take ships that we were happy with the state of. We turned down two ships when we were last there."
The first consignment of four 'ghost ships' arrived on Teesside last November. But legal challenges by green groups convinced the High Court that Able's licences to do the job were not valid.
Since then the company has been preparing applications for the paperwork it needs while the ships sit in Graythorp dock. The second batch of nine ships, still in America, are also in legal limbo.
