Mozambique’s Port of Beira has reported a 58% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in container handling for the period January to May 2024, after moving 161 000 boxes compared with 102 000 for the same period last year.
This is according to figures released by Jan de Vries, CEO of the concession company managing the port, Cornelder de Moçambique.
Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM) reports that in the general cargo terminal, 1.6 million tonnes were handled, compared with 1.4 million in the first half of 2023.
“These figures categorically deny the claim made by the head of the Beira Trade Association, Felix Machado, who alleged that this year alone Beira had lost over 500 000 tonnes of cargo to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam.”
AIM stated that Machado’s claim was uncritically repeated by parts of the Mozambican media which did not bother to contact Cornelder for its reaction.
“The completion of the rehabilitation of the first phase of the mineral terminal, the acquisition of modern equipment for transporting cargo and the use of state-of-the-art technology and human resources are all factors that are contributing to the improvement in cargo handling at the Port of Beira,” said De Vries.
He added that Cornelder had set a productivity record in the handling of chrome, achieving a daily average of 14 446 tonnes, a 40% improvement on the previous record of 10 400 tonnes per day.
“The excellent productivity is the result of heavy investment in ore handling capacity. The company has just completed the first phase of construction of the mineral terminal, which includes four hectares of storage area for various bulk and bagged ores, where they can be handled efficiently,” said De Vries.
Citing consistent improvements and comparatively strong data sets used by the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index, De Vries emphasised that new intercontinental shipping lines were increasingly calling at the Port of Beira.
New investments earmarked for the remainder of 2024 to meet demand from hinterland countries, include the removal of one of the old warehouses in a fortnight’s time.
“In its place, we’ll ensure the expansion of almost four hectares of a new park,” De Vries said.
“Also, as part of the modernisation of the infrastructure, we will be acquiring four new modern cranes.”
He added that a recent engineering study showed that “we have the capacity to accommodate cranes for ships capable of transporting 10 000 containers in a single voyage”.
AIM also quotes De Vries saying: “The volumes we handle today are ten times greater than 25 years ago, but unfortunately the roads are the same, which creates a huge constraint on the flow of cargo in and out of the Port.
“We believe that greater co-ordination between the various users of the Port of Beira, including the government, the private sector and the municipality, can find a solution in the short term.”
