A MOTHBALLED North-East shipyard has announced it is back in business with plans to recruit nearly 20 members of staff.

The Cammell Laird ship repair yard, on the banks of the River Tees, at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, has been silent since April last year, when the company went into liquidation.

But new owners A & P Holdings announced yesterday that former director Derek Turk had been reappointed and ship repair work at the yard would resume in September.

The Southampton-based repair and conversion firm, which bought the yard for an undisclosed sum last August, has twice been accused of asset-stripping at the yard.

In November, lorries loaded with fork lift trucks and welding equipment were seen leaving the site, believed to be heading to Chatham and Southampton, where A & P has other installations.

The company refuted the claims and said its promise to return any equipment to the site will be fulfilled.

Eighteen local people will be recruited to work at the yard and the company will carry out an engineering survey to determine the state of the plant and equipment. Interviews are already under way for a yard manager.

A & P wants to attract a wide range of ship repair work and introduce a mobile team, which will carry out work at sea.

Redcar MP Vera Baird met A & P bosses this week to discuss the plans.

She said: "A & P is very optimistic about the market and at least three shipowners are interested in placing their ship repair orders in South Bank.

"The hope is that the numbers employed will grow as the market develops and orders begin to flow into the yard.

"I am assured that all the equipment that was taken away from South Bank will now be taken back and used.

"The A & P directors have given me their personal assurances that they intend to recruit skilled people from Teesside to work in the South Bank yard and it is their intention to build a viable business that will utilise this valuable site to its full potential."

More than 1,000 workers lost their jobs after the two Cammell Laird shipyards in Teesside and Tyneside closed in 1999.

In February, an industrial tribunal awarded them a pay-out of £2.5m because both Cammell Laird and the receivers Pricewaterhouse-Cooper failed to properly consult with unions