Workers at Appledore were made redundant on Tuesday

The GMB union has been involved in discussions in Bournemouth throughout Wednesday to try to save the yard and the jobs of 500 workers at Appledore Shipbuilders.

Union leaders say there are three groups interested in the business, one of which is emerging as the favourite.

Receivers called in to wind up Appledore were shown around the site on Wednesday.

Skilled workforce

The receivers, from the accountancy firm Tenon Recovery, spent Tuesday in meetings with union representatives and the workforce of Appledore Shipbuilders.

They have said they will try to sell the yard as a going concern.

Representatives of the GMB union said there will be more talks with the receivers and an attempt to ensure former workers at the yard have money to live on in the meantime.

All 550 workers at the yard were made redundant on Tuesday after its chairman, John Langham, said there was no option but to call in the receivers.

The yard completed its last ship nearly a month ago and the company, which had no work in hand, said it lost �1.3m last year and lost a further �1.9m in the first half of this year.

The GMB said redundancy letters have been sent to all staff

Simon Thomas from Tenon Recovery said: "What we have to do is present a united front, concentrating on what we have to offer.

"This is a skilled workforce and a great facility, and we must just do our best to get someone to come in and take this thing over."

Gary Smith of the GMB said: "There are three parties we understand who are interested in the yard. I think it will start to be clearer early next week.

"The main thing is that we've a written agreement with the receivers and we will be talking to them on a daily basis.

"But in the short-term we are just making sure that people have got money in their pockets.

"Our people are going to be without any money at all for a while. They won't get redundancy pay or benefits for a number of weeks."

Appledore Shipbuilders was founded in 1855 and the firm had one of the biggest enclosed ship-building facilities in Britain in the 1960s.

The yard, based on the River Torridge, has built more than 350 ships, including naval fishery protection vessels, trawlers, passenger-vehicle ferries, dredgers and bulk carriers.