In the last three years, the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) has recorded losses, including a loss of Rs 13.8 crore in 2023-24, the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said. The port’s losses widened by 32% from 2022-23, according to data released by the Union ministry.
The main reason for the continued losses is the allocation of surplus funds towards building a Rs 2,400 crore pension corpus for the port, which currently has 946 employees.
“Every year, the port has an operational surplus, but it goes towards creating a corpus for the pensioners,” said MPA chairman N Vinodkumar. “We need a Rs 2,400 crore corpus, and we are about Rs 1,000-1,100 crore short. At the current trend, we hope to get the corpus in five years.”
The port saw a 45% increase in capacity over the last few years and adopted the PPP route for cargo and berth management. The port’s liabilities also increased from Rs 1,572 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 1,623 crore in the last financial year.
“Revenue has not been hit even though cargo was reduced by 10-15% as we did not get the kind of iron ore from Karnataka due to the rail derailments. For the next financial year, we expect it to be better,” said Vinodkumar.
Meanwhile, the Union ministry said that the port is owed Rs 117 crore from tenants and berth occupiers as of March 31. Some of these funds are locked in arbitration, insolvency proceedings and legal battles, said port officials.
To help improve cargo movement through shipping and waterways, Centre has approved nine projects under the Sagarmala mission, with Rs 1,388 crore being sanctioned for these projects. Of these nine projects, five have been completed, and four projects valued at Rs 677 crore are in the completion stage.