Mozambique | Work at the port of Maputo will increase cargo handling capacity

The cargo handled at the port of Maputo will increase by 1.5 million tons per year from December 2019, when work that is now underway to refurbish and modernize four docks is complete.

The Mozambican capital’s port can handle 25 million tons of cargo per year, and in their current condition docks 7, 8 and 9 handle 1.8 million tons per year. Dock 6 is virtually inoperative, serving only to accommodate vessels in need of technical assistance.

The rehabilitation work was awarded to Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil by the port’s concession holder the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) and will cost USD64 million.

Paulo Mata, the project manager, said that the work on dock number 9 will be the first to be completed, in February 2019.

The project also involved dredging, with a view to increasing the depth of the dock from 12 to 15 meters, reinforcing the dock’s piers, as well as demolishing a number of warehouses on that dock and the others covered by the project.

The work along the 536 meter length of docks 6, 7 and 8, will continue until December including increasing their depth from 12 to 16 meters, installing new stakes and improving the pavement.

At the end of 2017, the general dredging of the port’s access channel was completed, which allowed a 22 percent increase in the volume of cargo handled, reaching 18.2 million tons in 2017 compared to 14.9 million tons in 2016.  MDT/Macauhub