Mozambiques' Maputo Port on Expansion Roll with Ore, Coal and Auto Handling

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Port of Maputo, at the Mozambique capital on the southern Indian Ocean coast of Africa, is one of a number of east-facing ports and terminals undergoing capacity expansion and upgrading.

The port is expected to handle about 18 million tons of cargo in 2013, after handling 15 million tons in 2012 and 12 million tons in 2011. Grindrod, the bulk handling and shipping group, operates the port in partnership with Dubai Ports World and Mozambique Port & Railways Company.

The original development plan for the port was to expand the capacity to an annual 50 million tons by 2025. But now, says Grindrod CEO Alan Olivier, the operators are looking to reach that target by 2020.

The bulk growth is expected to come from coal, magnetite, iron ore, chrome ore, containers and vehicles, with the product mix favoring magnetite/iron ore. Currently the magnetite exports through Maputo come from South Africa's Palabora Mining at a rate of 5 million tons a year, with another 1.25 million tons from Swaziland. Palabora is reported to have massive stockpiles of magnetite available for export through the port. It is anticipated that the magnetite and iron ore capacity could reach 10 million to 15 million tons annually in the near future.

Parallel to the ore handling expansion, the 1.3 million-ton Phase 3.5 expansion at the coal terminal at Maputo has been completed, giving an annual total of 7.3 million tons of coal capacity.

The auto manufacturing center in Pretoria, South Africa, is driving expansion of the Maputo car terminal, which now has a capacity of 120,000 units annually, an increase of 69,000 units capacity. In the first half of 2013 car terminal totals jumped 91% to 37,155 vehicles imported and exported.

Factors favoring the expansion of Maputo port are its proximity to the industrial and commercial heartland of South Africa in Gauteng province and rail access to Swaziland, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana. Further up the coast, Durban port is reaching capacity and Richards Bay coal terminal is expected to reach full capacity in the next couple of years.

For related information see December 17, 2013, article - Mozambique, Namibia Boost Transportation and Export Infrastructures.

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