Dedicated copper yard open for business

It’s all systems go for the Port of Beira as far as bulk freight is concerned.“This month we will start to use a dedicated copper yard with additional security measures and next year we will start the construction of an area of about 90 000 square metres that we could use for project cargo as well as for bulk minerals,” said Jan de Vries of Cornelder de Mocambique, the concession company that runs the port.Chrome ore, De Vries said, already had a dedicated area with volumes currently sitting at 295 000 tonnes with an expected outf low target of 350 000 tonnes in the near future.Sulphur as well, with a maiden shipment of 80 000 tonnes last year, is part of the port’s bulk ambitions.“It’s an important cargo for us to open up extra use on the Beira Corridor into the various hinterland areas,” De Vries said.Fertilizer too, with inf lows growing from 0.5 million tonnes five years ago to an unprecedented five-fold increase, has paved the way for Cornelder to find even more quality in quantity.“We’re in the process of upgrading existing warehouses to enable us to work with more bulk. By the end of the year we’re aiming to have 12 000 square metres of buffer capacity online, allowing us to process cargo much faster. It means we can massively increase the productivity of fertilizer discharge.”With port entry expansion completed, mooted exit improvements in the pipeline, and back-end build projects to quay-side services in the process, Beira is by far no longer the slow-poke port it used to be.