diff --git a/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.cpp b/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.cpp
index 9ad0de5dd..90e4d5f62 100644
--- a/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.cpp
+++ b/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.cpp
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ HttpClient::HttpClient(Cmd_ptr cmd_ptr,
       client_(base_url_) {
 
     client_.set_connection_timeout(std::chrono::seconds{timeout});
+    client_.set_read_timeout(std::chrono::seconds{timeout});
+    client_.set_write_timeout(std::chrono::seconds{timeout});
 
     // Disable cert verification
     if (scheme_ == "https") {
diff --git a/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.hpp b/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.hpp
index 0e3f698a3..6d6284304 100644
--- a/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.hpp
+++ b/libs/base/src/ecflow/base/HttpClient.hpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+
 /*
  * Copyright 2009- ECMWF.
  *
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ class HttpClient {
                const std::string& scheme,
                const std::string& host,
                const std::string& port,
-               int timeout = 60);
+               int timeout = 120);
 
     void run();