THE last Mersey dredger is being axed.

Twelve jobs are under threat after Mersey Docks and Harbour (MDHC) owner Peel Ports announced the Mersey Mariner is to be decommissioned in June.

The company said the work would instead be done by a third party contractor using more modern technology.

It comes less than a month after it emerged the last remaining Liverpool dockers are to join the agency brought in to replace workers sacked in the damaging dispute of the mid-nineties.

Dredging is vital to keep the Mersey and its dock system clear of silt.

The docks once had a fleet of dredgers.

MDHC used to own the world’s largest dredger – the Leviathan – which has long since been decommissioned.

In 2007 MDHC took the Mersey Venture used to dredge the Queen’s East Channel near Crosby out of service.

A dock source said the work was now being done by an outside agency.

A number of the crew took redundancy and others transferred to the Mersey Mariner.

The source said today: “Peel have more or less told the Mersey Mariner crew they will lose their jobs.

“They don’t want a permanent workforce any more.

“None of the workers want to go with the economy as it is.

“Some have been there for 25 to 30 years.”