According to the Mozambique Investor, the Port of Beira, the only port of entry and exit for goods from countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Botswana, plans to vastly increase its capacity to handle containers and general cargo, Mozambiquan newspaper Notícias reported.
The newspaper said that, in order to achieve that target, state port management company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) and the concession-holder Cornelder de Moçambique are making large investments.
The port, which was designed to handle 100 000 containers per year, handled 105 000 in 2010, which rose to 160 000 in 2011. In 2006 the port handled just 55 000 containers.
In general cargo, the port handled 1.2-billion tonnes in 2010 and in 2011 the figure totaled 1.9-bn, which was an increase of almost 40% year-on-year.
By 2016 it is expected that the Port of Beira will have an average capacity for 400 000 containers, and, by 2015, CFM projects that the port will handle 300 000 containers.
