Port heavily staffed, but can’t lay off

The recently appointed chairman of the Mauritius Ports Authority (MPA), Sanjeev Ghurburrun, whose mandate is to transform the port into a modern and rapid-transit facility, is facing a serious dilemma:

Either invest into the automatization of port services to attract international liners or undergo an important restructure of the “overstaffed” Cargo Handling Corporation Limited (CHCL) and the MPA.

Ghurburrun has been cited as telling Defi Media that the optimal staff count at the MPA should have been 50 – but it currently employs 560.

The CHCL, he added, should have a staff count of 500 but currently has 1650 employees.

Ghurburrun said that laying off extra employees is not on the agenda but salary cuts and other measures will “definitely be required.”

Ghurburrun said without a thorough modernization of port services, international shipping liners will opt for other African ports.