The Axe Continues to Swing at Cammell Laird

Insolvent British shipbuilder Cammell Laird Plc is cutting a further 117 staff, a spokesman for its receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers told Reuters on Monday.

The spokesman said 34 jobs out of 59 were being shed at its Tyneside operation in northeast England while 83 of 136 jobs were being cut at Birkenhead in northwest England.

Cammell Laird went into receivership in April after a series of cancelled orders hit its finances. Earlier this month, the firm, a symbol of the decline in British shipbuilding, announced it was axing 330 jobs on top of more than 600 job cuts made earlier in the year.

Last Friday, ship repair outfit A&P Group Holdings bought the plant and equipment of each of Cammell Laird's yards at Birkenhead, Tyneside and at Teeside, also in northeast England.

The receiver said Cammell Laird was not being sold as a going concern and any existing contracts would remain its responsibility. At the time, a PwC spokeswoman said the remaining staff at the shipyards would also be made redundant over time.

The yards in Birkenhead, Tyneside and Teeside were effectively mothballed at the end of July.