Corporate Vision January 2017

, Essar Ports is one of India’s largest private port companies with world class assets at strategic locations. The company’s activities are primarily in the bulk side, including dry, liquid and break bulk. Their clients are from a variety of sectors, including the oil, steel and power industry and major exporters and traders of the country for the cargo stream which they specialize in handling. K K Sinha spoke to us about the firm’s business strategy and how their approach to client service is second to none. “In the short term we aim to provide world class operational parameters to our customers which will facilitate their business growth. In addition to diversifying our cargo mix and completing and commissioning of our ongoing projects, our strategy is to expand through both organic and inorganic means. This may be through acquisition or through new concessions. We are open to opportunities which are in line with our vision and look forward to participation under Sagarmala initiative of Government of India. Employee development and customer delight are a key focus area for the business. “We believe in developing state of the art facilities which can deliver world class parameters to our customers and add to customer delight. To achieve the Enhancing the Community Essar Ports Limited (EPL) develops and operates ports and terminals. It is one of the largest private sector port companies in India by capacity and throughput. We invited KK Sinha to tell us more about the company. same there is strong focus on capabilities like entrepreneurial orientation, project management, operational excellence, customer focus, negotiation and nurturing of people. We believe environment/ ecology and local stakeholders play a pivotal role in the success of any business and working towards their preservation and development on sustained basis is core to our philosophy. “Essar positively impacts the lives of all stakeholders including employees and the communities living close to its facilities. Community initiatives aim to enhance livelihoods through programs focused on entrepreneurship, education, empowering women, infrastructure, environment and health. It sees involving community leaders as key to success. Essar generates direct and indirect employment for thousands of people in the region it operates. The company adheres to stringent health, safety and environment standards wherever they operate.” K K Sinha explains the changes that the industry has gone through, as well as describing the effects that this has had on Essar Ports. “Indian Port’s traffic has grown at 7% CAGR in the past with Non major Ports taking the lead in the last decade and cross 1 Billion Tonnes annually. At the same time Non Major Port’s traffic has grown at 12% CAGR and they have increased market share from 24% (in 2001) to ~43% (in FY 2016). “With the passage of time, the industry has moved towards delivering better standards like higher parcel sizes, faster loading/ unloading rates, minimizing turnaround times and providing environmentally friendly handling measures. POL, bulk cargo and containers have been driving the growth story and going forward LNG is expected to be a game changer. The industry is heavily dependent on Commodity Market and prone to various risks. To overcome the same, it is important to invest in long term sustainable solutions which has been central to Essar Port’s vision. “Projects in India are prone to higher implementation risk in terms of high financing cost, securing various approvals, land acquisition issues and ensuring Hinterland Connectivity for evacuation of Cargo. However, the National Perspective Plan issued by Ministry of Shipping highlights the focused approach of government and their vision to resolve these issues plaguing the sector.” K K Sinha outlines the firm’s future plans and what they are doing to expand the business. “Essar ports has cargo handling capacity of 140 MMTPA and we are in the process of increasing the capacity to 194 MMTPA. Capacity addition will be through commissioning of our ongoing project and expansion of our various terminals across the country like the Port Terminals at Hazira, Visakhapatnam Port, Paradip port etc. “We are looking at increasing our market share and presence in various segments, including LNG and Container Business. I think we have a very large portfolio with secured cargo stream which helps us to expand through various means, organically or inorganically. Decades of experience and technical prowess in the port sector, coupled with a strong team, have laid the foundation for the company to be one of the premier port sector players in India.” “We believe in developing state of the art facilities which can deliver world class parameters to our customers and add to customer delight.”