Just hours before the 300,000-ton Bonga floating oil platform was due to enter the river on Friday, the painstaking operation was called off.

Hundreds of people were expected to turn out for the spectacle of the giant ship being negotiated the last few miles along the river to the Amec yard in Wallsend, North Tyneside.

It is now hoped to have another attempt at bringing the vessel up the Tyne early on Saturday morning.

Football pitches

The Bonga arrived last month after being towed 13,000 miles from South Korea, but bad weather prevented it being brought up the river and it sheltered in Rotterdam.

The vessel will stay on Tyneside for up to 12 months to undergo a £300m refit before being towed to the Bonga oilfield off Nigeria.

A spokesman for owners Shell said an attempt to bring it up the river on Friday will not now happen.

He blamed choppy seas for the third delay.

But he vowed the Bonga will make it safely to Tyneside soon.

The platform is roughly the size of three football pitches.