Man B&W Diesel, which bought Paxmans last year, has 249 people working in its high speed engine business.

But the firm wants to move production of the VP185 engine to its Stockport site to streamline operations.

It has warned that only about 100 staff would be needed in Colchester if the new scheme goes ahead.

Company managers said every effort would be made to minimise redundancies.

They said the move was necessary to compete in a changing world market.

Man B&W Diesel is a German firm with 7,300 employees in Germany, France, Denmark and Singapore as well as the UK.