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Mozambique: CDN to focus on railroad after port concession ends
2:29 CAT | 19 Dec 2019
File photo: Lusa
Mozambique’s Northern Development Corridor (CDN) yesterday announced that it will strengthen its focus on rail transport from January, when its Port of Nacala concession ends.
Once it no longer manages the Port of Nacala, corridor companies will “dedicate greater effort to the core business of shipping coal from Tete” to the port, and to “leveraging the potential of rail freight,” Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nacala Logistics Corridor Wellington Soares explained.
The port’s 15-year concession to CDN ends on January 10, a date confirmed on Tuesday following a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The decision “results from the need for the Government to re-evaluate the management and exploration strategy of the bays around Nacala Port and to redefine ways of exploiting the Bay in view of its potential and opportunities for development,” yesterday’s statement reads.
The CDN new goals are “to increase the volume and effectiveness of general cargo rail logistics, enhance the corridor’s core business and maintain a commitment to continue investing in community development along the Nacala Corridor while operating to high environmental standards”.
The company also noted yesterday that it currently supports more than 15,000 families in income promotion programmes in the areas of agriculture, poultry, livestock and fishing.
Up until 2018, the CDN and port “contributed over US$58.4 million (€52 million) in taxes to the Mozambican state, invested about US$20 million (€18 million) in the acquisition of port equipment, in addition to US$11 million (€9 million) in indirect costs for equipment rental,” the communique states.
The extraction of coal by Brazilian mining company Vale in the Tete region made it viable to build a 912-kilometre railway, including a 200-kilometre stretch crossing Malawi, and a deep-water port in Nacala.
In order to export its output by sea, Vale partnered with Japan’s Mitsui and Mozambican state-owned Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) in an investment worth US$4.5 billion (about €4.067 billion).
The CDN’s railway concession is valid until 2035.
Source: Lusa
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