FORMER directors at the South Tyneside operation of shipbuilder Cammell Laird are putting together a financial package to buy the yard.

The 160 workers left at the Hebburn site are facing their final week of work, with proposals to mothball the yard, along with the company's operation at Birkenhead on Merseyside, by the weekend if no buyer is found.

The Tees operation of Cammell, at South Bank, has already been mothballed.

It is understood that former Cammell Laird Holdings chief executive Brett Martin and former operations director John Syvret are talking to financial backers about a possible management buyout of the Tyneside and Birkenhead operations.

Receiver PriceWaterhouse-Coopers said it remained confident of shipbuilding and repair being saved at both sites, if a satisfactory bid was received.

A spokesman for the receiver said yesterday: "We are actively seeking buyers for the yards and remain confident that operations can continue at both sites, if the search proves successful."

Other yards on the Tyne, including Swan Hunter and A&P Tyne, are also believed to be interested in the Tyneside operations of Cammell.

A spokesman for the GMB union, which represents workers at the Cammell Laird yards, said: "There is still a lot of interest in these yards, and we have not given up hope of a buyer being found for them."