The Port of Beira has introduced several measures to ensure it remains operational despite the impact of the novel coronavirus.
According to Jan De Vries, executive managing director of Cornelder de Mozambique, a lot of work has been done to ensure safety of all staff at the port and to keep operations fluid.
“Some two months ago we started to analyse the potential impact of Covid-19 on the port. Three areas were prioritised,” he told Freight News.
The first was the washing of hands. “We looked at all the areas where hands could be washed, and it was clear that we did not have enough hand washing points. We have now created more than 30 stations across the port, including at the entrances, and in all the work areas.”
Anyone arriving at the port is required to get out of their vehicle and first wash their hands before they are able to enter the premises.
De Vries said staff were also required to wash their hands several times during set hours.
“The second action we took was to make masks mandatory throughout our operations. As part of Cornelder’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme we have developed a project of producing masks along with several non-profit organisations to mitigate the spread of the virus.”
According to De Vries materials were purchased along with sewing machines and the project has been very successful. Not only does everyone at the port have a mask, but masks are also being distributed to various areas in the city that have potential high risk - such as informal markets.
“The third area that we have focused on in the past month is social distancing,” said De Vries. “We have doubled our office space and split all of our departments in two, with half of the staff working on one side and the other half on the other.”
This, he explained, had reduced the office occupancy by 50% and allowed for the social distancing protocol to be observed. “Should the undesirable happen then it is not an entire department that will be affected. We also encourage all staff that can work from home to do so.”
A further development, said De Vries, was to move all meetings and customer interaction online. In addition, documentation is now no longer required in physical format.
“We are in the process of rolling out a new document management system to clear cargo that will see all documents uploaded online.”
Lastly, he said, all crew arriving on vessels at the port were medically checked along with all truck drivers. “We have introduced temperature screening as a further preventative measure.”