Rail pact unlocks volumes for Maputo

A joint initiative
between Transnet
Freight Rail, the
Mozambican rail
authority CFM and
Grindrod has helped
boost coal volumes
through the port of
Maputo by 30% in the
first six months of 2011,
says Grindrod CEO
Alan Olivier.
The dredging of
the port from 9.4 to
11 metres, which was
completed in the first
quarter of 2011, has also
“increased the port’s
competitiveness,” says
Olivier.
The Maputo coal
terminal expansion to
six million tons annual
capacity was completed
at the end of the first
quarter of 2011, with
“record tonnages”
subsequently achieved,
according to the report.
In his report on the
company’s performance
for the interim review of
the six months to June,
he says “further benefits
are anticipated in the
second half of 2011”.
A feasibility
study to expand the
terminal capacity to
20 million tons of coal
and 10 million tons
of magnetite will be
completed in the second
half of 2011.
Grindrod plans to
continue investing in
Maputo and Richards
Bay: “Initiatives to
provide additional
rail wagons are being
pursued to fully service
existing export capacity
at the Richards Bay
and Maputo drybulk
terminals and the
Maputo car terminal,”
says Olivier.
Maputo Port
Development Company
chair and Grindrod
executive director
Dave Rennie said
Grindrod was looking
at development
opportunities on some
of the main commodity
transport corridors in
Africa.
These include the
coal export corridors
in southern Africa, the
copper corridor going
from Zambia through
to Angola, and the ironore,
gas, oil, and bauxite
corridor in West Africa.