MPDC tackles channel challenge

A major focus for the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) – which in 2003 was granted concession rights by the Mozambique government to finance, rehabilitate, develop, operate and manage Maputo cargo terminals and certain Matola bulk terminals – is the navigationally notorious North Channel leading into Maputo Bay and the city’s port. “The channel is a challenge,” Ken Shirley, port authority director, told FTW, “and the characteristics certainly reveal this.” Situated on the Indian Ocean on the east coast of Africa, Maputo’s North Channel leads from the open sea into Maputo Bay. The distance from the North Channel entrance to the pilot station is 25-nautical miles (nm). From the pilot station the Xefina, Polana and Matola Channels lead into the wharves and terminals. Rendezvous point is at Buoy 6, some 10-nm from the port entrance. And, according to Shirley, depending on the weather conditions, this passage is often not safely navigable – with the port at times having to be closed by frequent gale force winds. An important activity for the MPDC in the entrance channel is dredging. Since taking over the port, it has restored the approach channels to their design depth of 9.4-metres (over 30-feet) and instituted an annual maintenance dredging programme using the modernised Mozambiquan dredger, “Aruangwa”. “And,” said Shirley, “we have skilled and experienced marine crew who are able to cope with any eventuality.” The entire marine crew are all Mozambican and have been traditionally trained – having gone to sea, done their time, and after seven years qualified for their master’s tickets.