Dredging at Maputo port

Maintenance work at major commericial port

Works to dredge Maputo port will begin in September as part of a maintenance contract between the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) of neighbouring South Africa, which accounts for some 80 per cent of the port's business.

Last year the port’s access channel and several mooring docks were dredged, deepening the waters from 11m to 13.7m. This allowed the booming port to welcome vessels weighing over 65,000 tons and process 18 million tons of cargo in 2013, an increase of three million tons from the previous year.

The works came as part of a $400-million investment to improve the port's facilities on its 110th anniversary.

Separately the governments of Mozambique and China have signed a deal to rehabilitate the fishing port in the central city of Beira, funded by a $120 million loan from the Chinese Eximbank. The Mozambican government said that the upgrade of the port would help to stimulate the economy of central Mozambique, particularly Sofala province which suffered sustained attacks from Renamo militants in the last couple of years, prior to the recent peace deal.