Mozambique: New record announced for Maputo port

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Mozambique: New record announced for Maputo port

4:08 CAT | 16 Jan 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Maputo Port Development Company ]

The Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) on Tuesday announced its annual results for 2023, showing that the port had handled 31.2 million tonnes during the year, an increase of 16 per cent over the figure for 2022.

Most of the traffic handled consisted of minerals, including chrome, ferro-chrome, magnetite, coal, phosphates, copper and vermiculite.

“Handling these cargoes reflects the strategy of diversification that the port of Maputo has adoped in recent years”, declared the Executive Director of MPDC, Osorio Lucas, cited in a press release from the company.

MPDC said it had established a better balance between road and rail traffic than in previous years. 61 per cent of the traffic handled by the port used roads, while 39 per cent was carried on the rail network. This was an 8.4 per cent increase in the use of rail transport compared with 2022.

“The sustainable growth of the transport corridor remains a concern for MPDC”, said Osorio. “Although there has been a growth in rail traffic, the demand for the port has grown exponentially, and so we shall continue to work with CFM (the national port and rail company) to seek a better balance between road and rail transport”.

Another measure taken by the MPDC to reduce congestion on the Maputo-South Africa motorway was the opening of the Truck Management Park at Pessene, inaugurated in November.

The increase in the volume of traffic using the port had an impact on the fees paid by MPDC to the Mozambican government. Excluding taxes and dividends paid to the shareholders, the Port of Maputo contributed over 41 million US dollars to the state treasury. This was an increase of 22 per cent on the figure for 2022.

Source: AIM