Beira aims for a million TEUs a year

A million twenty foot

equivalent units (TEUs)

a year by 2035 – that’s

the vision of Beira port

operator Cornelder de Mozambique

(CdM).

Considering the port went from

100 000 TEUs in 2010 to 207 000

in 2014 and could well

hit 210 000 TEUs

in 2015, the

target is not too

ambitious

believes Jan

Laurens

de Vries,

commercial

manager for the

port of Beira.

He points out

that the port

has

enjoyed annual volume growth of

15% a year since it was opened up to

larger vessels after capital dredging

in 2010.

CdM has a policy of investing

ahead of demand, and over the past

year has added two post-Panamax

ship-to-shore gantry cranes to the

fleet.

“With their twin lift capability

the gantries have had a massive

impact on the productivity of the

port.”

Beira is not only the

closest port for Zambian,

Zimbabwean and Malawian

importers and exporters, it now

offers one of the fastest routes to

market, says De Vries.

Cornelder is not only focusing

on container traffic.

Work is about to start on the

addition of 600 metres

of quayside for

general cargo and

containers.

The

quayside is

designed to

accommodate

post-

Panamax

gantries in

the future, but initially it will

only handle general cargo.

With container traffic growing

faster, eventually the quays will

accommodate a new container

terminal capable of handling

750 000 TEUs a year.

Tenders are likely to be issued

for the new quayside in early

2016, with

completion in

2019.

The quays will

be designed for

a draught of 14

metres as the

port needs to be

prepared for the

future.

“The current

design draught of

minus eight metres

CD is deep enough

for the vessels that

are calling,” says De Vries.

Vessels of up to 60 000 tons can

be accommodated within the seven

metre tidal range.

Concerns about the silting up of

the channels and quays are being

addressed by the authorities, and

the design draught is expected to be

reached again in 2016.

Cornelder, which was awarded a

25-year concession to run the port

in 1998, is confident that volumes

will justify the investment.

A hard lesson was learned in

2001 when cargo from Zimbabwe

(our main customer) dried up,” he

says.

Markets in Zambia, the

Democratic

Republic of Congo

and Malawi have

been opened

up through the

marketing efforts

of Cornelder

and the freight,

logistics and

shipping

companies

operating out of

Beira.

“Despite the

drop in the

commodities market there are

positive signs in the economies of

the neighbouring countries.

“There is so much pent-up

potential that we could well be

looking at 1.5 million TEUs a year

rather than a million.

“If that happens – we will be

ready,” says De Vries.

INSERT & CAPTION

There is so much pent-up

potential that we could

well be looking at 1.5

million TEUs a year rather

than a million.

– Jan Laurens de Vries