| Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is looking for overseas contracts for development and management of port terminals.
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| The trust has offers from Nigeria and Mayanmar for port terminal development and port management respectively.
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| “We are eyeing a significant global position particularly in the outbound port advisory and management business,” said A K Chanda, chairman of KoPT.
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| The trust has presented the advisory business model as a concept to the Government of India and is waiting for government permission, which it expects in a month.
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| The port was already running its consultancy service within the state in inland water development and hydrology, which generated a revenue of Rs 8 crore till date in the current fiscal.
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| According to the chairman, KoPT would start with project consultancy and then with experience, take up hands-off management.
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| However, it might take up management of port terminals from the start because it already had expertise in this field.
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| “For smooth operation, a standing arrangement has to be made by GOI, and keeping all he pros and cons in mind, we have applied to the government,” the chairman said.
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| If GOI cleared the KOPT concept note, the trust would be among the first Indian ports to enter the consultancy market.
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| This business model could be a major revenue source for all domestic ports in future.
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| Terming the potential global port consultancy market as huge, Chanda said, “We have to take positions globally from now on if we intend to be a dominant player, otherwise others would take that position and in the advisory market, late entrants always suffer.”
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| While explaining the scope of the business, Chanda referred to the Singapore Port Authority which handles 4 million twenty equivalent units (TEUs) containers, out of which only 40 percent was handled at Singapore and the rest through terminals abroad.
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| The chairman sounded equally optimistic regard to the domestic advisory market as well.
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| “There are 170 minor ports across the country, out of which 45 are working at full capacity. All these ports are suffering from an acute shortage of technical expertise, so there is a huge domestic market to be tapped and I believe this model would be a very attractive source of revenue generation in the time to come for all ports across the country which have the right skills,” he explained.
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| Regarding the possible ownership of ports abroad, Chanda said though it was important, it could come only with experience. |
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