Mark Van Peel, President of Antwerp Port, the second largest European port owned by the local government, feels that while government should play the role of landlord port, concessions or development rights to private investors should be given based on welfare parameters rather than raising maximum funds. In an interview, Peel, who is visiting India, shared his views on promoting the use of LNG at Antwerp and other issues. Edited Excerpts:

What are your investment plans in India?

Our relationship with Essar was fruitful (Antwerp invested €25 million in Essar Ports in 2012, and exited with capital gains of €6.8 million in December 2015). We are going to continue to cooperate with them, but also look for other partners. We will meet others regarding furthering business through two subsidiaries – training centre with JN Port and Port of Antwerp International that looks after investment and does consultancy.

We are performing some auditing for the Ministry of Shipping; we have done two of them for Paradip and Kandla. We are going to continue that and are seeking more opportunities.

Do you have other investments of the kind that you had with Essar?

Yes, in Oman, in the new port of Duqm. We are also looking into a lot of other opportunities in Brazil, South America, West Africa, Indian Peninsula and South East Asia. India will remain a very important part of our activity.

What are Antwerp Port’s plans for use of LNG in barges, given that India is also looking to have barges running on LNG?

The biggest issue with LNG was what comes first – the ship or the fuel? We will now sign an important contract with a company NG for procurement of LNG. We hope we can move on now given that we have surpassed that dilemma. We will have a terminal not for import but for distribution for ships. It will be signed next month. Barges that use LNG are slowly growing.

You started providing discounts to shipping lines that meet environment parameters. Do shipping lines invest in such ships to get those discounts?

Yes, they do. A lot of ships are complying with these new standards and are benefitting by saving port dues.

You recently tied up with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Any such plan for India?

Not yet, but we are open to opportunities from Indian banks.

You are a government functionary, where you deal with several contracts that require renegotiation due to change in market conditions. In India what are such challenges and the lessons learned?

I cannot offer lessons. What is proven by facts in Europe is that the landlord model, where the private sector is doing operations and the landlord is giving concessions, is the best performing model. Landlord role is much more than administration only, it is an active body promoting port and looking for opportunities.

For example, several plots of land are becoming available for new users. The criterion is not what does or does not make most money for the port, but what adds value for the communities. For instance, we now have a lot of land parcels, in which different logistical players are interested. But, we are also looking for the possibility to reserve that for industries. There is interest, for example, from potential industrial investors.

What parameters do you consider while choosing between two investors interested in a port land parcel?

We look at the potential for job creation and as to what they can add to the cluster already existing in the port. We have proposals from petrochemical industries from Saudi Arabia. One of the important criteria is what they can add to the already existing petrochemical industry in port.

How do you track points like how many jobs a company creates?

We do the monitoring by ourselves. When they present the business plan, we get it evaluated independently. For instance, we are doing that to a proposal submitted by the Saudi firm. The whole idea of our concessions is to keep the good customers in the port. So, as long as they keep investing, you keep increasing their concession period. The healthy companies who generate cargo and contribute to the welfare for the port will keep getting more concession. We have companies that have been there for 150-200 years due to such extensions.

As an elected representative who heads the port, there may be times when the two roles are at conflict. How do you manage them?

Fortunately, the port is performing well. So, there is not much political discussion about port management. In the normal running of port business there is not much of political interference and even the role of politicians are diminishing. Half of the directors are political people from city, the other half are independent directors from industry or business. This is against earlier days when all posts were held by politicians.

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