"If the coordination exercises between the different tugboats go as planned, we can expect a crossing between today and tomorrow," defence ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau told a press conference.

The Suez canal authority has asked for extra tugboats to help tow the decommissioned ship, the Clemenceau, the former pride of the French navy, which is being sent for scrapping in northwest India.

Its transit across to the Gulf of Suez has been held up over fears, first raised by Greenpeace and other campaigners, that its asbestos insulation may pose an environmental or health threat.

Although the Egyptian government ruled last week that the Clemenceau was fit to cross the canal, the cabinet decided on Wednesday in response to pressure from parliament to send a group of scientific experts to inspect it.

Bureau said he expected the team would carry out their final verifications at the same time as the coordination exercises.

Greenpeace and other activists have been fighting for months to oppose the ship's transfer to India, on the grounds that the scrapyard workers at Alang in northwestern India would be at risk of asbestos poisoning.

The Indian Supreme Court has yet to issue a final ruling on allowing the ship into the country's territorial waters.

The defence ministry spokesman said that France was "confident" that India would deliver its green light, arguing that the ship's scrapping had been prepared in an "exemplary manner".

"The protection of staff and the protection of the environment will be central to our concerns throughout the entire dismantling operation," he said.

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