THE future of a North-East ship repair yard looks increasingly bleak after a dozen more workers were laid off.

Yesterday, PricewaterhouseCooper, receivers for Cammell Laird, announced another 71 redundancies at the company's three sites at Birkenhead, Tyneside and Teesside.

Most of the jobs will go on Merseyside, with Tyneside escaping unscathed, and Teesside losing 12 jobs.

The South Bank yard was mothballed this year when the company went into receivership and a desperate search began for someone to buy the company as a going concern.

Now work is expected to dry up at the yard next week, while Birkenhead has enough work to see it through to the end of the month and Tyneside until the middle of next month.

Jimmy Skivington, from the GMB union, described the weekly meeting with the receivers in Liverpool yesterday as very negative.

He now believes next Wednesday will be D-day for the yard when the final 11 workers will be axed.

It means there is more pressure to find a buyer urgently, but Mr Skivington said that new legislation meant a buyer would be culpable for unfair dismissal and long service claims against the old firm.

But if the yards are split up and sold separately, the financial penalty will not be in place.

He said: "This has a massive effect and it is the reason why companies like Swan Hunter have taken a step back. They are interested in the facilities, but they don't have to take on those responsibilities and it certainly seems that is the way it is heading because it makes it a more viable proposition."