TIMBERS from the Newport Ship project could be shipped off to York next year if a project to dry them out isn’t finished.

Newport council’s lease on its unit in Maesglas Industrial Estate is due to expire in October 2014, but cabinet member for culture, Cllr Debbie Wilcox, says freeze drying is taking longer than anticipated.

The authority has also yet to find an alternative storage location for the ship beyond October 2014.

The news comes after a new £27m museum in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard to house the only 16th century warship on display in the world, the Mary Rose, was opened to visitors today.

It is hoped the Newport Ship will be reconstructed and take pride of place in a new museum in the city, but there are no firm plans or money available for that to happen.

The council will need to find a place to store the timbers that make up the ship, with the Royal Mail set to expand into the ship’s unit in October – a consultants’ report had suggested sites in Newport, Nantgarw and Portsmouth.

Cllr Wilcox told Tory councillor David Fouweather that the “possible transfer of some timbers to York to enable York Archeological Trust to complete the drying process is being considered as a contingency measure”.

York Archeological Trust is currently undertaking the freeze drying work on behalf of Newport council.

In answer to a written question from Cllr Fouweather, Cllr Wilcox said a representative sample of timbers will be dry by October 2014.

Researchers would continue to have access to the project provided an “accessible storage solution” can be found by that date.

However a spokeswoman for the council said a storage location had yet to be identified.

Meanwhile, conservation of the small finds associated with the Medieval Ship is expected to be completed within the next few months, Cllr Wilcox told Cllr Fouweather.

“These will then either be displayed at the museum or stored at Maesglas,” she added.