The Hindu Business Line : Pooling out work

If Cochin Port hopes to improve productivity, it must tackle the issue of cargo pools. The workers there enjoy a notorious reputation for low productivity.

LAST week this paper reported a rather unusual and unexpected suggestion by a trade union in Kerala. The Cochin Port Staff Association has recommended that the management of the Cochin Port do away with the operations of the entire cargo handling pools in the port.

According to Mr P.M. Mohammed Haneef, Working President of the Association, the management could formulate an alternative scheme to protect the jobs of these workers as they are directly or indirectly involved in cargo handling activities at the port.

Additionally, and more important for the health and competitiveness of Cochin Port, such a move could reduce the overall cargo handling costs, while ensuring that the workers are not exploited. All this would directly increase the revenue of the port. That is why other Indian ports, such as Tuticorin, New Mangalore, Paradip, Kandla, and Vishakapatnam, have not opted for pools.

A few years ago, the Cochin Steamer Agents Association had called upon the port authorities to implement a similar scheme to reduce the strength of workers in various pools of the port, in view of the heavy financial burden cast on the shippers and the trade by the increasingly high cost of running pools.

However, it may not prove easy to implement a scheme to replace the pools system. As Mr Haneef himself pointed out, a system of engaging workers by private agencies under the name of pools is in vogue in Kochi. Several agencies are involved in the management of these pools and they are levying exorbitant rates from the port users, says Mr Haneef.

Thus, it may not be easy to break that system, despite the fact that the existence and continuance of these pools has contributed to the exorbitant handling cost of cargo moved through the port, which, in turn, has led to the decline of the cargo throughput of Kochi.

If Cochin Port hopes to improve its productivity, it must tackle the issue of cargo pools. The question of port productivity is rather complex since each player has his own self-interest.

The terminal operator would wish to reduce or stabilize the cost per container handled and thus maximize per unit profit, while the port authority's main goal may be to increase the annual throughput per acre of its leased terminals and thus avoid having to build new facilities until all current facilities are fully or efficiently utilized.

For the workers and their unions, the main goal would be to see a rise in jobs and the total cargo handled by workers.

The workers of Cochin Port enjoy a rather notorious reputation for low productivity, compared to their counterparts in other south Indian ports such as Ennore and Tuticorin.

(Incidentally, Ennore Port, India's major port for trade with Southeast Asia, has very few employees of its own - only 16, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank. Most of the container handling and operations have been outsourced to the private sector.)

To change this poor perception of Cochin Port workers, both the port authorities and the trade unions must work together. The suggestion by the Cochin Port Staff Association should be taken seriously and capitalised on.

This is all the more important with the imminent commencement of operations from the new Vallarpadam transhipment container terminal. Cochin must not be allowed to be the `Queen of the Arabian Sea' merely for its scenic wonders. It has the potential to be home to one of India's - if not South Asia's - best sea ports.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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