Efficient and cost-effective
rail links are key to allowing
the Maputo and Matola ports
to contribute fully to regional
economic growth, according
to Maputo Port Development
Company (MPDC) chief operating
officer Gerhard Botha.
His warning is echoed by a
number of shippers and logistics
companies either using Maputo, or
wanting to ship through the port.
The benefits will be felt beyond
Mozambique.
Having an efficient corridor
in an out of Maputo will open
up economic opportunities for
Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Zimbabwe
and Swaziland, they tell FTW.
The port ships ferrochrome
and chrome ore from Zimbabwe,
Steelpoort and Lydenburg; coal
from Hwangwe, Botswana,
the Waterberg and Limpopo;
magnetite from Phalaborwa; iron
ore and sugar from Swaziland; and
containers from all neighbouring
countries.
Far-reaching plans to deepen the
channel, strengthen and deepen the
berths and expand the container
and bulk handling facilities in the
port are in the pipe-line with the
first phase of construction starting
early 2013.
Maputo has become
predominantly a bulk port, and
rail is needed to carry the higher
volumes it will be able to handle.
“We need rail. Our goal is to
reach 40 million tons of cargo a
year by 2020,” he says.
The predicted volume for 2012
is 15 million tons.
“We are now back to the 1972
volumes. The port experienced
300% growth between 2003 and
2012,” he says.
Some 85% of the cargo is
carried by road.
A steady stream of 800-900
road trucks a day delivers or picks
up cargo in the port, and the road
infrastructure is being upgraded to
handle this traffic.
But road is not suitable for bulk,
and the existing infrastructure
is being destroyed by the heavy
traffic.
The port authorities are working
with Transnet Freight Rail and its
Mozambican counterpart CFM to
address the problem.
Botha welcomes plans for a
strategic rail link with 50-ton
minimum axle loading from
Ermelo utilising the Buhrmanskop
– Lothair branch line to connect
with the Swaziland rail network,
and from there into CFM and
Maputo.
Construction is scheduled
to start in 2013, according to
Cleopatra Shiceka, executive
manager of the office of the chief
executive officer of Transnet
Freight Rail. She was speaking
at the Maputo Port Conference
earlier this year.
CFM chairman Rosário
Mualeia told the conference that
the upgrading of the Ressano
Garcia line from South Africa to
Maputo to handle more than 20
million tons a year was one of the
investment projects on which the
company was working.
The Limpopo line serving
Zimbabwe and Zambia is also due
for upgrading and strengthening.
CAPTION
Gerhard Botha ... ‘efficient corridor will
open opportunities.’
