The Port Authority has lost $700 million over the last seven years.Its newly appointed chairman, Joseph Toney said between 2004 to 2011, $700 million injected by the Government into the port's upkeep has been going into a "deep, dark hole".Toney said the port was no longer a profitable state enterprise and that it is putting a heavy strain on the Government and taxpayers.The port-which Toney described as a good potential revenue earner for T&T-has been losing about $100 million annually of funds injected by the Government."It's a major loss enterprise. I myself was surprised to know that the port was losing so much money per year."
Between 1995 to 2004, Toney said, the port was in position to sustain itself and even made a profit."But from 2004 they have been suffering from huge losses...in the vicinity of $100 million a year."Toney said an entity named Portia Management was brought in by the former People's National Movement government to turn the port into a viable and productive business.Part of its mandate was to also transform the organisation into 21st century trends and standards.The price tag for this task was $65 million a year, Toney said.The sad result of that, Toney said: "They (Portia) got their monies and the port is (in) a worse off situation today."Portia Management, which served between three to four years, was severed by the last port board under its former chairman Clive Spencer, Toney said.
The majority of money that is pumped into the port, Toney said, goes into contracts, the manning and upkeep of its two ferries which sail from Trinidad to Tobago, the repayment of outstanding loans and the purchase of equipment.Apart from losing millions, Toney said the port had obtained a $70 million plus loan for the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting, which is yet to be repaid and was incurring interest daily.The loan, Toney said, was guaranteed by the PNM Government in 2009."This is a heavy burden on the Government. I am not saying there were no benefits because the port had to reach an international standard for the heads of government meeting. That was achieved but at great costs."
Getting out of the deep hole
Toney said he was appointed at a time when the organisation's financial arrow was pointing down."This has got to change."Toney said he was also looking at certain port contracts that were awarded under the PNM to determine if they have been serving the best interest of the company and country."The Government has to decide what they want from the port."Toney said with the widening of the Panama Canal by 2014, T&T will be used as a major transhipment point."If we ready ourselves for 2014, I strongly believe we can get ourselves out of the deep hole we have gone into and become a profitable and sustainable entity once more."Promising to turn around the port in the coming months, Toney said the first that was needed was to change the mindset of its 2,000 temporary and permanent employees."You have to think of the port as a revenue earning stream for the Government. That is the first thing you have to get in the minds of the workers and management."
