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Sixty jobs are set to go at east Belfast engineering firm Harland and Wolff - about one third of its permanent workforce.

Discussions are soon to get underway with unions.

The company is blaming the move on a downturn in the offshore oil and gas sector. The firm stopped shipbuilding in 2003.

Its activities now include the repair and refurbishment of vessels ands oil rigs.

Unions have described the news as "the latest bad news story for manufacturing in Belfast and Northern Ireland".

They added the decision "reflects the recent decline in the company's order books".

Michael Mulholland, spokesperson for the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering said: "The announcement by Harland and Wolff management that they will be seeking up to 60 redundancies reflects the recent decline in the company's order books.

"This is the latest bad news story for manufacturing in Belfast and Northern Ireland and follows hot on the heels of a large-scale redundancy announcement at Bombardier. It reflects the continuing crisis in the sector."

Mr Mulholland said management at Harland and Wolff would attempt to achieve the job cuts voluntarily.

He added that both the GMB and Unite would engage fully with the company to try to "minimise the impact" on its members.

According to its last accounts, the company made a £9m operating profit off a £55m turnover in 2014.

It has a core workforce of just under 200 but at any time can employ several hundred contractors depending on workloads.