Mozambique: Maputo port manager to invest $600M in three years – interview

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Mozambique: Maputo port manager to invest $600M in three years – interview

4:00 CAT | 05 Feb 2024

Image: Lusa

The concessionaire for the port of Maputo plans to invest $600 million (€553.4 million) over the next three years to expand the port infrastructure, the first phase of investment in the addendum to the concession contract, until 2058.

In an interview with the Lusa news agency, the executive director of the Maputo Porto Development Company (MPDC), Osório Lucas, explained that this first phase will increase the capacity of the container terminal from the current 170,000 to 350,000 containers in three years.

“That’s almost a 90% increase. It will also increase the capacity of the Matola Coal Terminal from seven million [mtpa – millions of tonnes per annum] to 12 million. And our general cargo capacity will rise from 10 million [mtpa] to 13 million in phase 1, which will be completed in the next three years,” he said.

These investments are ready to go ahead immediately after signing the addendum to the concession contract the cabinet approved on 23 January, which involves $600 million in the first three years: “This is another interesting factor.

The addendum to the concession contract establishes an obligation to invest in this three-year period and make the first phase of investment. It’s not an option, we have to do it.”

The concessionaire for the port of Maputo plans to double the volume of cargo handled annually by 2058, with the extension of the contract and overall investments of $2.06 billion (€1.9 billion) over this period.

MPDC expects the volume of cargo handled to rise from 26.7 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) in 2023 to 50.9 mtpa in 2058, at the end of the 25-year contract extension period (starting in 2033).

By 2058, it also estimates an increase in operational capacity from the current 37 mtpa to 54 mtpa and the terminal’s capacity from 270,000 to one million containers, the expansion of the Matola Coal Terminal from 7.5 to 18 mtpa and the General Cargo Terminal from 9.2 to 13.6 mtpa.

Sociedade de Desenvolvimento do Porto de Maputo is a private Mozambican company that resulted from a partnership between Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) and Portous Indico, which is made up of Grindrod, DP World and Mozambique Gestores.

“This extension, which was negotiated with the government over a period of almost a year and a half, starting in November 2022, aims to create capacity and conditions to increase the volume of cargo handled in our Porto. The nominal capacity before this extension is 37 million tonnes, compared to 17 million tonnes before our investment, and last year we reached 31 million tonnes, which is almost 80% of capacity,” said the executive director.

He added that since 2003, MPDC has invested around $900 million (€830.6 million) in modernising the port infrastructure, increasing capacity to 37 million tonnes by dredging, rehabilitating and deepening more than 1,500 metres of quays, and on equipment, systems and a training centre.

The port of Maputo currently employs around 10,000 direct and indirect workers, 99% of whom are locals and who depend on the port’s activities every day, a number that the administration expects to grow with the extension of the concession.

“It will have an impact on the workforce of around 2,000 more direct and indirect workers at the coal terminal and the container terminal,” said the executive director.

As part of the concession extension, the administration agreed with the state to invest $15 million (€13.8 million) – which is not included in the amount committed for investment in the Porto – in six social projects, namely accessibility to Inhaca Island, the entrance to Maputo Bay and the rehabilitation of the Maputo and Catembe pontoons, among others.

“It’s an example that should be used as a benchmark. Tell companies with the financial capacity ‘invest in the country, promote job creation, but leave some impact on society’,” concluded Osório Lucas.

Source: Lusa