Rail pact unlocks volumes for Maputo

A joint initiative between Transnet Freight Rail, the Mozambican rail authority CFM and Grindrod has helped boost coal volumes through the port of Maputo by 30% in the first six months of 2011, says Grindrod CEO Alan Olivier. The dredging of the port from 9.4 to 11 metres, which was completed in the first quarter of 2011, has also “increased the port’s competitiveness,” says Olivier. The Maputo coal terminal expansion to six million tons annual capacity was completed at the end of the first quarter of 2011, with “record tonnages” subsequently achieved, according to the report. In his report on the company’s performance for the interim review of the six months to June, he says “further benefits are anticipated in the second half of 2011”. A feasibility study to expand the terminal capacity to 20 million tons of coal and 10 million tons of magnetite will be completed in the second half of 2011. Grindrod plans to continue investing in Maputo and Richards Bay: “Initiatives to provide additional rail wagons are being pursued to fully service existing export capacity at the Richards Bay and Maputo drybulk terminals and the Maputo car terminal,” says Olivier. Maputo Port Development Company chair and Grindrod executive director Dave Rennie said Grindrod was looking at development opportunities on some of the main commodity transport corridors in Africa. These include the coal export corridors in southern Africa, the copper corridor going from Zambia through to Angola, and the ironore, gas, oil, and bauxite corridor in West Africa.