Reasonable turnaround for Cochin Port Trust for 2016-17 fiscal

: Cochin Port Trust today said it has made a reasonable turnaround in the 2016-17 fiscal with a provisional operating income of Rs 486.57 crore and operating expenditure of Rs 362.51 crore
This resulted in an operating surplus of Rs 124.06 crore (provisional), a top official of the port trust said.
Deputy Chairman of the Port Trust A V Ramana told reporters here that the port has paid pension arrears of Rs 24 crore in the fiscal year ending today.
The Port Trust has also diverted its Rs 14 crore during the 2016-17 fiscal for pending projects due to delay in getting the fund from the government.

Asked about the loss the Trust suffered this year, Ramana noted that operating surplus in 2015-16 was Rs 70.9 crore and the current year, it was Rs 124.06 crore.
"If you take the net surplus, last year it was Rs (-)40.52 crore. This year we are yet to close accounts. We expect a better figure," he said.

The Port, which had handled total traffic of 22.10 MMT, during the year 2015-16, could handle the traffic of 25.01 MMT with the growth of 13.2 per cent in the financial year ending today, Ramana said.
"The total number of containers handled during 2015-16 was 4.20 lakh TEU's and during 2016-17 is 4.91 lakhs TEUs with the growth of 17.0 per cent.Containers for the month of March 2017 at 45,346 TEUs is an all time record at ICTT," he said.

He said Coastal Car carriers had started calling at Cochin Port from September 2016 onwards. The Port has offered 80 per cent rebate in port charges towards attracting the business.
"This arrangement ultimately benefits the end user a minimum of Rs 3,000," he said.
Ramana also noted that the total number of Cruise vessels that called at the Port during 2015-16 is 33 and during 2016-17, it was 46.
The Port could attract Wheat Vessels during the current year and handled 1.74 lakhs tonnes during 2016-2017, he said.
Cochin is a Natural, all weather port with deep drafted alongside berths and modern cargo handling equipment and Container Terminal.