New ports like the Dhamra Port, the upcoming Subarnarekha Port and the proposed Tajpur Port on the eastern coast pose a major threat to the 147-year-old Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) which has run into losses in iservicings its 30,000 pensioners, a top official said.
“KoPT’s operating surplus increased 12.6 % to ₹631.1 crore in 2016-17. But, it still had an overall loss as it had to strengthen its pension fund which faces a ₹3,000 crore deficit,” said M.T. Krishna Babu, chairman, KoPT.
He told the media that at present a 5,300-strong workforce was supporting the pensioners on whom the annual outgo was ₹300 crore.
On whether the proposed logistics park at Paradeep Port Trust posed a threat to the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) of KoPT (operations are split between the Kolkata Dock System and HDC), he said: “ Dhamra is a bigger threat to us.”
Pointing out that HDC could lose 40% of its cargo to Tajpur Port in Odisha if its came up, he said HDC may lose 10-15% of container cargo traffic on account of Dhamra Port, also in Odisha.
Two-pronged strategy
He said KoPT’s biggest challenge was its lack of draft. Mr. Babu said KoPT had adopted a two-pronged approach to improve its efficiency. One, by taking steps to ease doing business and another sensitising staff about the fact the days of KoPT’s monopoly were over.
