Mozambican ports and railways company Portos e Caminhos de Ferros de Moçambique (CFM) is set to resume dredging of the Port of Quelimane at a cost of $1.5 million.
Clearing debris and sediment from the river port’s access channel, manoeuvring basin and docking berth is expected to get under way in January after it was initially set down for February 2019.
Dredging of the mainly industrial fishing and timber port was also affected by CFM halting maintenance work after Mozambique instituted prohibitions on the cutting and exportation of wood to countries like India.
The last time a large vessel docked at Quelimane was about three years ago thanks to consistent disruptions - and intentions to revive dredging of the port received a further setback due to the impact of coronavirus lockdown measures on Mozambique’s ports sector.
Africa’s March outbreak of Covid-19 also happened days after it emerged that the Mozambican government had put out a tender for the Port of Quelimane, specifically in relation to reviving fish exports from the Sofala Bank.
Maritime traffic though continued to be referred further south of Quelimane to the Port of Beira.
Now, with plans to finally commence with the sub-surface maintenance that has been scuppered over a period of at least three years, Quelimane expects to have its port finally dredged in the New Year.
This emerged after CFM received interest from an unknown multinational earlier this year to operate the ports of Quelimane and Vilanculos south of Beira.
But while Mozambique’s dredging company Emodraga waits in the wings to receive the final go-ahead from CFM, the rainy season in Zambézia is well under way, with the Bons Sinais river causing Quelimane to silt up – a primary concern for the country’s river ports.
Apart from its function as a mainly agricultural export port, Quelimane is also cited as an important logistical transhipment port, particularly for Mozambique’s remote regions further north and because of its proximity to the country’s coal fields in Tete Province.
