Study shows decline in staff strength across major ports

A study by industry body Assocham shows that major ports witnessed over 33 percent decline in its staff strength between 2001 and 2010.

During these ten years, the total number of employees in different cadres came down from more than 83,700 to nearly 55,400 at 12 major ports, the study titled – ‘Employment scenario at major, minor and intermediate ports in India’ shows.

The study shows that Mumbai witnessed the highest rate of decline (six per cent annually) as the number of employees went down from about 23,800 in 2001 to a little more than 14,000 in 2010.

The study was conducted at the major ports of Chennai, Kochi (including dock labour board ), Ennore, JNPT, Kandla, Kolkata (including Haldia Dock Complex), Mormugao, Mumbai (including dock labour board ), New Mangalore, Paradip, Tuticorin (including workers of cargo handling labour pool) and Visakhapatnam.

Employee strength at Tuticorin port declined from more than 3,700 to nearly 2,200 followed by Kolkata port where the number of employees dropped from nearly 14,600 to about 9,100.

This apart, Chennai port saw the number of employees coming down from 12,250 to about 8,000. While Paradip, Mormugao, New Mangalore and Kochi ports witnessed 3-4 per cent drop each year, Jawaharlal Nehru, Kandla and Visakhapatnam ports saw marginal decline in the employee strength, the study pointed out.