Plant Head

UpMan Placements Private Limited · posted 2 months ago

Mumbaiplant head / plant incharge

About the role

Plant Head

Bulk Liquid Storage Terminal | Mumbai

Client	Bulk Liquid Storage Business, Mumbai
Position Title	Plant Head
Function	General Management / Business Leadership — Storage & Terminal Operations
Location	Mumbai, Maharashtra
Reports To	Business head
Mandate Type	To lead growth of an existing installation plus integration of a newly acquired expansion site

1. About the Business

Company operates a large bulk liquid storage installation in Mumbai, receiving imported Base Oils by ship at Bombay harbour, storing them in tank farms, and subsequently dispatching the product to customers and processing sites elsewhere in India . The company has recently acquired a new site to substantially expand its storage capacity, and this expansion is a strategic priority for the Group's leadership. The Plant Head role is being created to lead the next phase of growth for this installation.

2. Position Summary

The Plant Head will be the overall executive in charge of the storage installation — commercially and operationally. This is not a plant operations role alone: the mandate is explicitly to grow the business and maximise revenue from storage charges, while also running the facility safely and efficiently and shaping how the newly acquired site is developed. The ideal candidate combines a terminal operator's operating discipline with a business-development mindset and a trader's feel for the storage and logistics value chain.

The role sits at the intersection of business development, terminal operations, and supply-chain/logistics strategy — the candidate must be equally credible discussing a customer's commercial terms, a tank farm's operating parameters, and the economics of adding processing capability on site.

3. Key Responsibilities

Area	What This Means in Practice
Revenue Growth & Business Development	Own the P&L for the storage business. Identify and sign new customers for tank storage and throughput; grow revenue per unit of storage capacity; negotiate storage/throughput contracts and tariffs; build a pipeline that keeps pace with the new capacity coming on stream.
Terminal & Plant Operations	Overall in-charge of the storage installation — safe, compliant, and efficient receipt, storage and dispatch of Base Oils and other liquid cargo; tank farm utilisation, and day-to-day plant performance.
Capacity Planning & New Site Integration	Lead commercial and operational planning for the newly acquired expansion site — what products and capacity mix it should be built around, sequencing of the build-out, and how it is positioned to customers ahead of commissioning.
Value Chain & Processing Integration	Assess the case for adding processing/blending facilities on site so customers save on the cost of moving Base Oils elsewhere for further processing — a genuine value-chain lever, not just a storage tariff play.
Market & Competitive Intelligence	Maintain a working knowledge of other bulk liquid storage installations in India, the products they handle, and the tariffs those products command, to inform VVF's own pricing, positioning and expansion decisions.
Customer & Stakeholder Management	Manage relationships with importers/traders of Base Oils, logistics providers, and port/customs authorities at Bombay harbour; represent the Plant with existing and prospective customers.
Governance, Safety & Compliance	Ensure the installation meets statutory, safety (fire/HSE) and environmental requirements applicable to bulk liquid/hazardous cargo storage in India.

4. Candidate Profile

4.1 Must-Have Experience & Knowledge

• 15+ years in the liquid bulk storage / terminal / tank farm industry, with at least 5 years in a P&L-owning general management or business head role (exact experience band to be confirmed with the Chairman).

• Deep, working knowledge of Base Oils and related bulk liquid products — Group I/II/III base stocks, edible oils, chemicals or petroleum products — including how they are traded, shipped and specified.

• Established familiarity with other Indian bulk liquid storage installations (e.g. terminals at JNPT, Mumbai, Kandla and other west-coast ports) — their capacity, product mix, and the tariffs those products command in the market.

• Strong understanding of the storage-and-logistics value chain, including how processing or blending facilities co-located with storage can reduce customers' onward transport costs — and the commercial case for adding such capability.

• Demonstrated experience growing revenue and customer base in a storage, terminal, port logistics, or related infrastructure business — not purely an operations/plant background.

• Hands-on exposure to tank farm operations, vessel unloading/jetty operations, and the safety/regulatory framework for hazardous or bulk liquid cargo in India.

4.2 Preferred / Good to Have

• Prior experience taking a storage site through a capacity expansion or greenfield/brownfield build-out.

• Existing relationships with Base Oil importers/traders, shipping lines, or major storage/terminal operators in India.

• Engineering or chemical/petroleum background, supplemented by commercial/general management experience.

• Exposure to blending, processing, or value-added services layered on top of a core storage business.

4.3 Education & Personal Attributes

• Engineering, chemical/petroleum technology, or related technical degree; an MBA or equivalent business qualification is an advantage given the P&L and growth mandate.

• Entrepreneurial, commercially aggressive, and comfortable owning both a growth number and a safe operating record.

• Credible at senior customer and promoter/board level; able to operate with significant autonomy while keeping the Chairman/MD informed.

Notes for the Agency

Compensation Band	To be confirmed — recommend the agency benchmark against General Manager/Plant Head roles at comparable Indian terminal operators (Aegis, IMC, GBL, Vopak India) pending internal confirmation.
Span of Control	To work with the current occupant and then transition process will start on settling down.
Interview Process	To be confirmed — recommend an initial screen by the agency, followed by rounds with Ritu Anand (advisor), then Chairman and the MD.
Target Timeline	Urgent —candidates to be sourced quickly.

Market Context for the Agency's Briefing

A short primer to help the agency and prospective candidates understand the environment this role operates in:

• Bulk liquid storage terminals typically earn revenue in two ways: throughput fees (charged per unit of cargo received and dispatched) and storage tariffs (charged per unit of tankage reserved over time), with secondary revenue from blending, heating and marine/logistics services — a mix the Plant Head will be expected to actively manage and grow.

• India remains a significant net importer of Group I, II and III Base Oils, sourced mainly from South Korea, the UAE, Iraq and, more recently, Russia — though domestic base oil capacity is expanding, which is a factor the Plant Head should be tracking as it will influence import volumes over time.

• Co-locating processing or blending capability with storage is an established lever used by other Indian and global terminal operators to capture more of the value chain and reduce customers' onward transport costs — directly relevant to the Chairman's brief.

• JNPT and the wider Mumbai port cluster are seeing continued investment in liquid terminal capacity from players such as Vopak, Adani, Aegis, IMC and JSW Infrastructure — useful context for how VVF's new site should be positioned competitively.

Where to Source — Target Companies & Talent Pools

The Indian bulk liquid storage/terminal industry is a relatively small, specialist pool. The companies below are indicative starting points for the agency's mapping exercise — candidates could equally come from a customer-side background (Base Oil importers/traders) rather than a pure terminal operator.

Company / Pool	Why Relevant
Aegis Logistics / Aegis Group	Major independent bulk liquid terminal operator with installations at Mumbai, Kandla, Pipavav, Mangalore, Kochi and Haldia, handling petroleum, chemicals and vegetable oils — strong pool for both operations and commercial leadership talent.
IMC Limited (incl. Ennore Tank Terminal)	Long-established, India-wide bulk liquid storage and trading group with terminals across the west and east coasts, including Mumbai and JNPT — candidates here often combine terminal operations with trading/commercial exposure.
Ganesh Benzoplast Ltd. (GBL Infrastructure)	Independent tank storage provider headquartered in Mumbai with terminals at JNPT, Kochi and Goa, storing chemicals, petroleum and edible oil products, and also offering blending and logistics services — a close analogue to VVF's own model.
Vopak India	Global tank storage major with an established Indian presence; a strong source of candidates with international best-practice terminal management and commercial discipline.
IOT Infrastructure & Energy Services	India-focused bulk liquid logistics and terminal operator — relevant for both operating and business-development talent.
JSW Infrastructure (JNPT Liquid Terminal) / Adani Ports	Larger infrastructure groups building out liquid/LNG-LPG terminal capacity at JNPT — good source for candidates with large-scale capacity expansion and project experience relevant to VVF's new site.
Base Oil importers, traders & shipping/logistics houses	Senior supply-chain or logistics leaders on the customer side (Base Oil importers and traders shipping into Bombay harbour) who understand the product and value chain from the demand side, and could credibly run the supply side.

Next Steps for the Agency

• Begin mapping candidates against the target companies/pools in Section 5, prioritising those with both revenue-growth and terminal-operations credibility.

• Share an initial longlist with brief candidate summaries (current role, storage/product background, scale of P&L or tankage managed) rather than full profiles at this stage.

• Flag any strong candidate whose background doesn't map neatly to Section 4 — the Chairman's brief prioritises commercial and value-chain thinking over a conventional plant-head profile, so unconventional fits are welcome.

• Route any clarifying questions on the brief through Ritu Anand.

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