Cammell Laird confirms more than 140 job losses

Birkenhead shipyard and shipbuilder Cammell Laird has let go of 146 people following a redundancy process.

It warned in March this year that it was looking to cut up to 178 jobs at the world-famous yard.

But it said this afternoon that it was “pleased to announce the conclusion” of its HR1 process.

The statement said the business will now embark on a programme of transformation, which will lead to Cammell Laird becoming a technical economy with a multi-skilled workforce which is trained and equipped to understand future technologies.

It added: “We will continue to develop our apprenticeship programme and bring in a minimum of 25 apprentices each year.

“These next steps of our journey will ensure Cammell Laird is agile and competitive, and able to deliver our current order book and secure future contracts.

“Cammell Laird will stand ready to compete in the marketplace with a business which is sustainable for many years to come.”

In March yard bosses said they were seeking 178 job cuts following a downturn in work.

It followed a review of the business which concluded that it was employing “too many people”.

A statement released at the time said: “By conducting this process now, we will secure the employment of the remaining workforce.

“Equally, we can support the many hundreds of jobs which exist in our supply chain.”

In January the yard announced it had secured a new four-year contract with one of the UK’s largest ferry operators for the annual maintenance and dry docking of five large vessels in its fleet.

CalMac Ferries awarded Laird the contract with the option to extend it for two further one-year periods.