Dredging of Maputo Port completed, allows larger ships to berth

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Dredging of Maputo Port completed, allows larger ships to berth

10:36 CAT | 28 Apr 2017

Maputo Port (File photo)

The dredging of Maputo Port has been completed with the access channel, now deepened from 11 to 14 meters, allowing it to receive larger vessels, the government announced on Wednesday.

“The Port of Maputo has become more competitive in regional and international markets with the recent completion of the dredging of the access channel, allowing the access of cargo ships up to 120,000 tons,” it said in a statement sent to Lusa.

Dredging began in 2015 and has cost EUR 77 million. The work is part of a strategy “that will allow the port to reach the goal of handling 40 million tons by 2020,” the government adds.

An associated investment of EUR 110 million in a railway linking the port to the border with South Africa at Ressano Garcia is also planned for this year.

The package includes the installation of a centralised circulation control system, the increase of crossing extensions from 1,000 to 1,500 meters, reinforcement of three bridges and replacement of some rails and concrete crossbeams.

As demand increases, three 3,000 horsepower locomotives and a further 100 wagons are expected to be purchased.

A train transporting magnetite ore from South Africa to be marketed via Maputo port has been running on a test basis since 1 April. It comprises 75 wagons, carries 4,500 tons of magnetite per trip and is reducing the number of trucks travelling National Highway 4 from Ressano Garcia to Maputo.

The train is currently running five times a week and increasing frequency depends on improving the condition of the railway itself.

According to the Minister of Transport and Communications, Carlos Mesquita, quoted in the statement, “rail transport is contributing to the decongestion of National Highway 4 and is also improving the logistics chain in general”.

Source: Lusa