Riding on high cargo volume and handling bigger ships, the Chennai Port Trust set a record net profit of Rs 302 crore during 2007-08, a 54 per cent growth over last year¡¯s figure of Rs 197 crore. Revenues increased by 32 per cent to Rs 890 crore (Rs 674 crore).
"The year 2007-08 was the best financial performances for the port trust in the last ten years," Mr K. Suresh, Chairman, ChPT, told Business Line.
Expenses
The operating ratio (operating expenses divided by operating revenues) at 64 per cent was the lowest in the last ten years.
This was due to tight budget spending, he added.
Mr P.C. Parida, Financial Advisor and Chief Accounts Officer, ChPT, said except for the stores department, all the other departments spent less than the budget. "We saved nearly Rs 36 crore by way of curtailing expenditure," he said.
Revenue from cargo handling and storage increased by 40 per cent to Rs 286 crore (Rs 246 crore).
This is due to seven per cent increase in traffic throughout during 2007-08 to 57.15 million tonnes (53.41 mt).
Significantly, during 2007-08 the port handled lesser number of ships, but got higher revenues due to handling bigger ships by way of port and dock charges. In other words, the GRT (gross registered tonnes) at the port increased to 435 lakh tonnes compared with 399 lt a year ago.
This led to 3.70 per cent increase in port and dock charges to Rs 147 crore (Rs 143 crore), said Mr Parida.
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