PHASE THREE OF COAL TERMINAL EXPANSION CONCLUDED

The Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) on Tuesday announced the conclusion of phase three of the expansion of the Matola Coal Terminal, which is owned and operated by the South African company Grindrod.David Rennie, the chairperson of MPDC and executive director of Grindrod, told reporters that phase three raises the throughout capacity of the terminal from four million to six million tonnes of coal a year. A pre-feasibility study is under way for a fourth phase in the expansion that will lift the capacity of the terminal to between 12 and 17 million tonnes a year, with a storage capacity of 1.4 million tonnes.Before phase three, the terminal could only load 8,000 tonnes of coal and 12,000 tonnes of magnetite a day. But now, the maximum loading possible from the terminal is 30,000 tonnes of coal and 48,000 tonnes of magnetite a day. The coal comes from South Africa, and its destination is largely to coal hungry markets in Asia, particularly India. Indian demand for coal is put at 100 million tonnes a year.Coal is one of the key products in the drive by MPDC to raise the amount of cargo handled by the port sixfold by 2030. According to Rennie, the port moved 8.7 million tonnes in 2010, and he target for this year is 12 million tonnes. He pointed out that, at the height of colonial rule, in 1972, the port handled 17 million tonnes. The South African apartheid regime’s undeclared war against Mozambique saw a collapse in traffic through the port, reaching a low point of about a million tonnes in 1986.But Rennie believes that, with sufficient investment in port infrastructure and equipment, it will be possible, by 2030, to build traffic up to about 50 million tonnes a year. The detailed plans are that traffic should rise to 26.2 million tonnes by 2015, reaching 34.2 million in 2020, 40.1 million in 2025 and 48.6 million in 2030.According to MPDC Chief Executive Officer Jorge Ferraz, the total investment envisaged by MPDC is 750 million US dollars. Of this sum, 323 million dollars is to be invested by 2015. (This comes on top of 258 million dollars that was invested in the past 15 years).Some 200 million dollars will be spent on rehabilitating existing quays and building new ones. The port consists of two complexes – the MDC quays and terminals (some of them dating to the 1960s) in Maputo, and the bulk terminals (for aluminium, coal, grain and fuel) at Matola. Between them lies an area that is undeveloped, where space exists for expansion and new quays.Ferraz pointed out that in 2007 only five shipping lines were stopping at Maputo. That figure has now risen to 13, and over the past four years there has been a 95 per cent increase in the number of ships calling at Maputo.Key to MPDC’s plans is the dredging of the entrance channel. A dredging vessel, the “TSHD Pelletier” arrived in Maputo in September, and this month completed its task of deepening the access channel from 9.4 to 11 metres. The depth at the quays and at the container and coal terminals has been restored to 12 metres. Prior to the dredging the largest size vessel that the port could accommodate was 50,000 DWT (deadweight tonnes – the measure of how much a ship can safely carry). But now “Panamax” size vessels, of up to 80,000 DWT, can enter the port. Ferraz says this reduces unit costs and makes the port more competitive.  Initially, the major private shareholder in MPDC was the British Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, which failed to abide by the terms of its contract, did not make the promised investment, and did not pay the agreed rent for lease of the port to the Mozambican port and rail company, CFM. In 2007, however, the British company sold its shares to Grindrod and to Dubai Ports World. Currently, MPDC is 49 per cent owned by CFM and 51 per cent by the private sector consortium, Portus Indico. 48.5 per cent of Portus Indico is owned by Dubai Ports World, 48.5 per cent by Grindrod and three per cent by the Mozambican company, Mocambique Gestores. The MPDC lease on the terminal was initially only for 15 years. But last year the government extended the lease by a further 15 years, so that it will only expire in 2033. MPDC regards this as a vote of confidence, which will facilitate implementation of its master plan for the port and the mobilization of the investments required.