Bhubaneswar: P.L Haranadh, current chairman of Paradip Port Authority (PPA) Sunday took over the additional charge of chairman, Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata. He is an Indian Railway Traffic Service Officer of 1994 batch.
Haranadh, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, has studied MSc & Ph.D from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi. During his 27 years of service, he worked in Indian Railways for 22 years and 5 years in the Ministry of Shipping.
He has rich experience in rail transportation, especially in freight operations, business development and traffic planning.
In recognition of many meritorious works, he received the National Award for outstanding management in 2002 and in 2005 from the Ministry of Railways.
He also worked as Deputy Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port from 2015-2020. He was instrumental in developing innovative marketing solutions like total logistics solutions to customers to attract cargoes like coal, containers etc. During his tenure, he contributed to overall growth of Visakhapatnam Port and the Port scaled up to 3rd position among major Ports.
In his last one year stint as chairman, PPA the Port crossed the coveted 100 Million Metric Tonne yearly Cargo Handling Mark successfully for 5th consecutive year. This year PPA aims to cross the 125 MMT Cargo Handling Milestone. For improvement in Port connectivity, under P.M Gati Shakti the Foundation Stone of 2nd Exit Road-cum Flyover has been laid during his tenure. As a part of Vision India 2047, Paradip Port will evolve as a world class mega port with over 750 Million Tonnes Per Annum capacity by 2047. Shri Haranadh being at the helm of affairs, Paradip Port has been at the forefront in successfully completing several PPP projects worth over Rs.3000 crores recently, which led to capacity addition of 55 MTPA at Paradip. It is also noteworthy that the Port has recently awarded the Western Dock project of 25 MTPA capacity at a cost of Rs.2392 Crores. The 1st Phase of this project for 12.5 MTPA capacity will be completed in 3 years and the overall project in 5 years time. On completion, this will enable Paradip Port to have facilities to handle large Cape size vessels upto 18.5 meters draft.
