Paul Antony, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust, stepped down on Monday (May 16) after completing his tenure of five years and three months.

During his stint at the helm, the cash-starved port registered an operating surplus of ₹70 crore in 2015-16, the highest since 1979-80. The Vallarpadam Transhipment Terminal displayed a tremendous performance, crossing the 4-lakh TEU mark in FY16, and 40,000 TEUs in a month in April, both a first. 

Speaking to BusinessLine, he said restricting the maintenance dredging expenditure to below ₹100 crore in FY16 was a notable achievement. This had enabled anchoring of more than 10 vessels of 14.5 metre draft at the International Container Transhipment Terminal at Vallarpadam. 

During this period, work started on the ₹970-crore international ship repair facility with Cochin Shipyard at the Mattancherry Wharf and a ₹240-crore Multi User Liquid Terminal with 4.1 MMTPA capacity in association with Indian Oil Corporation at Puthuvypeen.

The Port Trust itself went through radical internal transformation, with ERP being firmly established in all aspects of the port's working. 

During the period, the port also went through a period of tough austerity measures. Benefits of employees and pensioners were restricted to a few months, but they managed to come out stronger with the cooperation of the employees and unions. The port was also able to pay arrears to its employees, he said.

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