The Hindu Business Line : Kochi port registers nil growth in April-Dec

Kochi, Dec. 7 The Cochin Port Trust has registered a “zero” per cent growth rate in the first nine months of the current fiscal as against the 10 per cent growth achieved last year, the Port Trust Chairman, Mr N. Ramachandran, has said.

He was speaking at a ministerial meeting convened at the port to discuss labour issues as well as those connected with the ICTT project at Vallarpadam and other developmental projects of the port.

Mr Ramachandran pointed out that major ports in the country have achieved a growth rate of 15 per cent by handling maximum quantity of cargo during the period.

Strikes

The port had lost around 66 working days on account of strikes since April 2005, thereby affecting its image in the international shipping arena. The intermittent strikes have also resulted in the diversion of ships to neighbouring ports, he said.

Unions’ view

The State Labour Minister, Mr P.K. Gurudasan, speaking on the occasion said that the Government has taken all steps to ensure that port-related development activities are implemented without any interruption.

Conditions in the agreement will be changed only after discussing with trade unions.

The view of the trade unions will be given due consideration, he added.

Later speaking to Business Line, the Chairman described decision of some of the trade unions to stay away from the meeting as “unfortunate”, saying that the port had invited all political parties in order to form a consensus on the issues related with Vallarpadam and its connectivity projects.

The meeting, he said, was convened to ensure that the civil works with regard to these projects did not suffer on any count and the projects should be completed within the stipulated time frame.

The port had written to all unions to depute a representative from each party for the meeting, he added.