Shipwrecks will make way for Maputo upgrades

MORE THAN 20 vessels of different sizes have made their watery graves along the estuary approaches to Maputo harbour. Now these relics of wartime activities are to disappear. BD Sarens of Alrode has undertaken the project of cutting them up, lifting the portions out of the water, and then having them shipped off to be sold as scrap. The vessels, mainly of South African origin, were either sunk during the Mozambique civil war, or were scuttled by their owners who were unable to sail them out of the territorial waters. A number of them can be seen lined up opposite the cargo terminal operated by Mozambique International Port Services (MIPS). With work to begin on deepening the harbour in the near future, they present a handicap to the work. "We are undertaking a major refurbishment of the two turbines at Cabora Bassa power station starting in October," says Jean Claude Kabobole, business development manager Africa for BD Sarens. "That will take about two months to complete, and then the equipment will be moved down to Maputo for the removal of the sunken ships. It is a project that will take about eight months to complete, using special equipment we are bringing in from the United States and which has never been used in southern Africa before."