The Port of Maputo, also called the Maputo-Matola port complex, is a Mozambican port located in the cities of

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,08 ...

and

Matola Matola is the largest suburb of the Mozambique capital, Maputo, adjacent to its westernmost side. It is the nation's second most populated city. Matola is the capital of Maputo Province and has had its own elected municipal government since 199 ...

. They are installed in

Maputo Bay Maputo Bay ( pt, Baía de Maputo), formerly also known as Delagoa Bay from ''Baía da Lagoa'' in Portuguese, is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique, between 25° 40' and 26° 20' S, with a length from north to south of over 90& ...

, on the north bank of the Espírito Santo estuary, which is separated from the

Mozambique Channel The Mozambique Channel (french: Canal du Mozambique, mg, Lakandranon'i Mozambika, pt, Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long ...

by the islands of Inhaca and Portugueses and by the Machangulo peninsula. The port belongs to the Mozambican government, which is responsible for its administration through the public-private joint venture "Maputo Port Development Company" (MPDC). It is a partnership among the

Mozambique Ports and Railways Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (abbreviated CFM; in English Mozambique Ports and Railways) is a state-owned company that oversees the railway system of Mozambique and its connected ports. The rail system is composed of a total of 2,9 ...

(CFM),

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

-based DP World, and Grindrod Ltd, a South African

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. The company was hired in 2003 by the

government of Mozambique Politics in Mozambique takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Mozambique is head of state and head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised ...

and functions as

port operator A port operator is a port authority or company that contracts with the port authority to move cargo through a port at a contracted minimum level of productivity. They may be state-owned (particularly for port authorities) or privately run. The wor ...

and

port authority In Canada and the United States, a port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other ...

, directing

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ex ...

, port maintenance,

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

, cargo terminal management, and future development

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is c ...

. Major port operator Dubai Ports World has invested in the company and its 15‑year government concession. The port is the terminal for three railway lines — Goba,

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

and

Ressano Garcia Ressano Garcia is a small town in the Maputo Province, Mozambique. The town is adjacent to Komatipoort in South Africa. The town has around 11,200 people living in it. Transport Both road and rail cross the border here from Mozambique into Sou ...

— transporting products from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Another important flow link is via the N1 highway. It is a fundamental part of the logistics complexes of the "Maputo Corridor", the "Limpopo Corridor" and the "Libombo Corridor". The foundation of the port, in 1544, was a fundamental element for the establishment of the city of Maputo. It received berth and quay structures only in 1850, when it became known as Port of Lourenço Marques and Port of Delagoa Bay.

History

The Port of Maputo had been a busy hub much before the establishment of the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC); in 1972, it was handling close to 17 million tons annually. The

Mozambican Civil War The Mozambican Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Moçambicana) was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992. Like many regional African conflicts during the late twentieth century, the Mozambican Civil War possessed local dynamics but was a ...

, which began in 1977, disrupted this streak of prosperity; by 1988, the Port of Maputo barely handled a million tons per year. The war ended in 1992, but it was not until 2003, when the MPDC was formed as a public-private partnership, that the Port of Maputo began to see an increase in business. The port went from handling 4.5 million tons per year in 2003 to handling 14 million tons—the expected

throughput Network throughput (or just throughput, when in context) refers to the rate of message delivery over a communication channel, such as Ethernet or packet radio, in a communication network. The data that these messages contain may be delivered ov ...

of 2012.

Port

The deepwater port of Maputo consists of two principal areas of usage: * Maputo Cargo Terminals * Matola Bulk Terminals

LNG Development

In November 2019, international oil major Total S.A. and a gas developer, Gigajoule, signed a joint development agreement for the importation of

Liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the v ...

at the Matola harbour, Maputo. The project is expected to commence from 2022 and will see a floating storage and

regasification Regasification is a process of converting liquefied natural gas (LNG) at −162 °C (−260 °F) temperature back to natural gas at atmospheric temperature. LNG gasification plants can be located on land as well as on floating barges, i.e. a Float ...

unit moored at the harbour.

References

{{reflist

External links

Port Maputo official site

Engineering News, Global port operator invests in port of Maputo, 25 April 2008
Government of Mozambique Transport in Mozambique Port authorities Port operating companies Maputo Mozambique Channel

History

Port

LNG Development

See also

References

External links