Assistant General Manager, Cost Control and Efficiency

Reporting Line

Reports directly to the CFO

Purpose of Role

The Head of Cost Control and Efficiency is responsible for drivingenterprise-wide cost optimisation, operational efficiency and productivityimprovement initiatives across PIL. The role acts as an independent challengefunction to identify cost reduction opportunities, investigate cost variances,conduct operational reviews, and drive cross-functional actions that improveprofitability, cash generation and cost competitiveness.

The role complements Business Partnering and Cost Management functionsby focusing on:

• Cost control governance
• Root cause investigation
• Operational cost audits
• Productivity improvement
• Cost optimisation programmes
• Cost recovery enhancement
• Efficiency initiatives
• Cost transparency and accountability

The role serves as the central catalyst for achieving PIL's costproductivity targets and protecting profitability in increasingly competitiveand volatile market conditions.

Key Responsibilities

1. Enterprise Cost OptimisationLeadership

• Lead and coordinate enterprise-wide cost optimisation programmes across:
• Trade
• Fleet
• Equipment
• Logistics
• Operations
• Agencies
• Corporate Functions
• Develop annual cost productivity targets and savings roadmaps.
• Identify structural cost reduction opportunities.
• Challenge business units on cost effectiveness and spending efficiency.
• Drive sustainable cost improvements rather than short-term reductions.
• Institutionalise a culture of cost ownership and accountability.

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2. Cost Control and Governance

• Establish cost control framework, policies and governance processes.
• Lead monthly enterprise cost reviews.
• Monitor cost performance against budget and productivity targets.
• Ensure clear ownership for major cost drivers and remediation actions.
• Escalate unresolved cost issues to CFO and SMC.

Key focus areas include:

• Cost per TEU
• Cargo handling costs
• Equipment positioning costs
• Network inefficiencies
• Empty repositioning costs
• Depot and M&R costs
• Agency costs
• SG&A expenses
• Personnel costs

3. Cost Driver Investigation and Operational Reviews

• Conduct deep dives into material cost variances.
• Perform root-cause analysis on adverse cost trends.
• Benchmark PIL performance against internal and external standards.
• Identify operational inefficiencies across the value chain.
• Undertake targeted reviews on:
• Fleet productivity
• Container utilisation
• Dwell time
• Storage costs
• Port and terminal costs
• Recovery and invoicing leakage
• Equipment turnaround

The role should operate as an internal "cost improvementaudit" function focused on actionable outcomes.

4. Profitability and Margin Protection

• Work with Trade, Operations and Commercial teams to improve contribution margins.
• Support initiatives addressing negative contribution margin bookings.
• Identify cost-to-serve improvement opportunities.
• Evaluate profitability leakage and cost recovery gaps.
• Recommend actions that improve EBITDA and cash flow.

Track realised savings and validate financial benefits.

5. Cost Analytics and Insights

• Build enterprise cost productivity dashboards.
• Develop predictive and diagnostic cost analytics.
• Establish cost-driver transparency.
• Identify emerging cost risks.
• Provide actionable recommendations to management.

Deliver:

• Monthly Cost Control Dashboard
• Quarterly Cost Productivity Report
• Annual Cost Efficiency Plan
• CEO / Board cost optimisation updates

6. Cross-Functional Change Leadership

• Facilitate collaboration across business units.
• Lead cross-functional workshops on cost reduction opportunities.
• Challenge legacy practices and processes.
• Promote continuous improvement methodologies.
• Embed cost awareness throughout the organisation.

7. Local Revenue Optimisationand Cost Recovery

The Head of Cost Control and Efficiency shall lead initiatives tomaximise local revenue generation, improve recovery of costs incurred andeliminate revenue leakage across PIL's global network.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a Group-wide Local Revenue Optimisation framework.
• Identify and quantify revenue leakage across:
• Local charges
• Detention & Demurrage (D&D)
• Storage recovery
• Equipment-related charges
• Documentation charges
• Operational service fees
• Exception handling charges
• Cargo-related surcharges
• Cost recovery mechanisms
• Monitor collection effectiveness and recovery rates.
• Challenge business units and agencies on under-recovery performance.
• Establish accountability for ownership of local revenue streams.
• Conduct root cause analysis on missed billings and recovery leakages.
• Benchmark local charge practices against market standards.
• Drive standardisation of charging policies and recovery processes across regions.
• Partner with Trade, Operations, GCAM, Agencies and Shared Services to improve billing accuracy and collection effectiveness.
• Lead initiatives to monetise operational services where value is delivered but not adequately charged.
• Develop dashboards tracking:
• Local revenue yield per TEU
• D&D recovery rates
• Storage recovery performance
• Revenue leakage indicators
• Cost recovery KPIs
• Agency collection effectiveness
• Support pricing governance by ensuring local cost increases are reflected appropriately in customer pricing and charging structures.

Key Success Measures

Financial

• Cost per TEU improvement
• Realised cost savings
• EBITDA enhancement
• Improvement in cost recovery
• Reduction in controllable operating expenses
• Revenues optimization

Operational

• Reduction in dwell days
• Improvement in container turns
• Improvement in equipment utilisation
• Reduction in empty repositioning costs
• Reduction in storage costs
• Reduction in M&R costs

Organisational

• Number of efficiency initiatives implemented
• Savings realised from productivity programmes
• Speed of action plan closure
• Business unit accountability

Experience and Qualifications

Education

• Degree in Finance, Economics, Engineering, Supply Chain or Business.
• MBA or professional qualification preferred.

Experience

15–20 years' experience in:

• Finance
• Cost management
• Operational excellence
• Business transformation
• Shipping or logistics industry

Strong exposure to:

• Container shipping economics
• Trade profitability
• Network planning
• Equipment management
• Cost analytics
• Business performance management