TFR and CFM jointly develop Maputo corridor

Both the South African and
Mozambican governments are
intent on developing the Maputo
corridor, Transnet Freight Rail
(TFR) executive manager,
strategy, Alex Masianoga told
delegates at last week’s Maputo
Corridor Logistics Initiative
open day in Johannesburg.
“TFR and CFM are
committed to the development,
aiming to increase traffic on the
shorter distance to Maputo from
the Gauteng hub.”
According to Masianoga,
cargo being transported by road
is slowly being lured back to
rail with conservative figures
for coal transportation alone on
the Maputo corridor route being
three million tons by 2010.
“We are already in discussion
with clients who are saying
to us make it six million tons.
Coal and magnetite currently
represent approximately 78%
of the volumes consigned to
Maputo.
“We are also seeing
significant growth in other
commodities such as sulphur and
fuel consigned from Maputo.
Also containerised traffic to
Maputo is increasing while
we are moving copper and
manganese from the DRC to
Maputo.”
Masianoga said resources
still remained a problem and
needed to be spent wisely. “We
don’t have as much money
as we want, to make the
necessary investments, but we
have improved capacity and
productivity despite this. More
public private partnerships are
being pursued in an effort to get
the adequate capital investments
needed for rolling stock to meet
demand. We are getting the
infrastructure up to speed and are
sure we can handle the demand
we are expecting.”