Maputo and Matola dig deep for miners

Since 2010 the Maputo
Port Development
Company (MPDC)
has been involved in a
mining project of its own – the
digging out of the approach
channel from 9.4 metres to
11 metres, and most recently
down to 14 metres.
In the process more than
16 million cubic metres of
sediment and rock material
were mined from the ocean
floor during the two projects.
A parallel investment
in quaysides and loading
equipment means that the
twin ports of Maputo and
Matola can now handle
capesize vessels of 80 000
tons.
Soon after the dredging
was completed, the M/V
Diovolezza, with a draught of
12.9 metres, was able to depart
without waiting for high tide,
according to Osório Lucas,
MDPC chief executive officer.
MPDC is now working with
the Mozambican hydrographic
office INAHINA (National
Institute of Hydrography
and Navigation) to
install navigation aids to
allow vessels to use the
76-kilometre channel around
the clock, he says.
MPDC, which is a
joint venture between
the Mozambican Railway
Company (CFM), Grindrod,
DP World and local company
Mozambique Gestores, will
continue investing in the port,
according to Alan Olivier,
chairman of the Maputo Port
Development Company and
executive director and chief
executive officer of Grindrod.
MPDC plans to increase the
port’s capacity to 40 million
tons a year by the end of the
concession in 2033. There
is an option to extend the
concession to 2043.
Olivier told delegates at a
February function to celebrate
the completion of the latest
dredging project that MPDC,
its shareholders and subconcessionaires
had invested
over US$700 million in the
port since 2003.
“A further US$300 million
will be invested in the port,”
he said.
Quayside investments
include the rehabilitation of
berths 6, 7 and 8 in the port of
Maputo and the expansion of
the iron ore terminal.
MPDC engineering director
João Neves is quoted in the
port’s publication “Bom
Porto” as saying that it “is
rehabilitation in name only.
In truth, it is the construction
of two berths of 260 metres
each and a service depth of
-16 metres CD”.
There are also plans to
convert berth 5 into a bulk
handling facility when there
is sufficient demand.
Expansion plans for the
Matola terminal, which will
see its capacity of 7.5 million
tons of coal and magnetite a
year increased to 26 million
tons (phase 4), are “currently
in an advanced feasibility
stage,” according to the
Grindrod website.
Phase 4 will require
excavation and land
reclamation, the construction
of two new berths, a
stockyard and railway
infrastructure.
The final terminal
footprint will be in the region
of 120 hectares (excluding any
reclaimed areas).
CAPTION
View of the Matola bulk terminals from the port of Maputo.