Coal shipments have started through the port of Beira within a fortnight of the completion of the dredging of the port. At the beginning of August it was announced that vessels of more than 60 000 gross tons would be able to call on the port for the first time in 28 years, after dredging of the approach channel and port costing 43 million euros (R431 million). The work was financed by the Mozambican government via the European Investment Bank, resources of Mozambique’s state rail and port company CFM, and the Dutch company Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors. The project to dredge a length of 27.5 km enabled re-establishment of the planned 11-metre depth and 230-metre width for the Beira port’s access channel. In mid-August, the first shipment of 2 700 tons of coal mined by Vale Mozambique in Moatize, in Mozambique’s Tete province, arrived in Beira on a 42-wagon train hauled by three locomotives, according to the Mozambican newspaper Notícias. The coal is being stockpiled at the port’s coal terminal until a total of 50 000 tons is ready for export. Coal is being exported to the Brazilian, Indian, Japanese and South African markets. In order to keep the channel open, CFM this year obtained financing of about 40 million euros (R401 million) through the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) to acquire a new dredger and improve the Beira port’s maritime service.
