MORE than three-quarters of the workforce at Ferguson's shipyard in Port Glasgow are to be axed, a union said today.

A total of 99 staff will lose their jobs, leaving only 30 employees.

And a union boss said he feared the closure of the yard within a year.

Shocked workers were told the news at a meeting 99 staff to be axed at Clyde shipyard this morning. Jim Moohan, head of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, said the news was worse than expected.

He said he feared Ferguson - one of the UK's last commercial shipbuilding yards - could close within a year.

Mr Moohan blamed the Scottish Executive for failing to confirm an order for Ferguson to build a £14million Fisheries Protection Vessel.

A union convener at today's meeting said 86 manual and 13 technical and managerial positions were going.

The firm has opened a 30-day consultation period to minimise the impact of the redundancies, the union said.

Mr Moohan warned at the weekend that around 75 staff at Ferguson could lose their jobs due to declining business.

Mr Moohan said: "The news was worse than we thought as I have been advised that 99 staff are to be made redundant.

"That will leave a very limited staff of around 30 left behind.

"Staff losing their jobs have no alternatives for re-employment."

The yard was founded by the four Ferguson brothers in 1903.

It has been dogged by setbacks in recent years and was threatened with closure in 2005.

No-one was available for comment from Ferguson.