Maputo, Mozambique, 11 June – The new terminal at the port of Maputo, which began operating this year, is capable of processing 45,000 vehicles in transit or destined for the Mozambican market, Mozambican newspaper Notícias reported.

With an estimated investment of US$12 million the new terminal was designed to process vehicles exported from the South African province of Gauteng and some Asian countries.

Another area that is under development in the port of Maputo is the container terminal, the annual capacity of which is due to rise from a current 60,000 units to around 800,000.

Notícias added that most of the containers expected were imported, although there was enormous potential for cargo in transit from and to South Africa.

Available figures show that the development of the container terminal will take an additional 1,000 ships per year to Mozambique, which are expected to pay the Mozambican state takes in the order of US$4 million.

Meanwhile, the costs of storing and exporting ethanol and biodiesel could be below current market levels, when the capacity of the liquids terminal is raised to around 750,000 tonnes of non-oil products per year. These liquids include vegetable oils, molasses, biofuels, industrial acids, marine fuels and others.

This project, which will be carried out in three stages with investment of US$100 million overall, will create 150 jobs and provide room for handling an additional 200,000 tonnes that may be transported by rail by CFM, as well as offering around 7,000 journeys to national road freight operators.

At another facility related to port development, a liquid fuel terminal is being built in Matola with capacity for 60,000 cubic metres at an estimated cost of US$45 million funded by CFM and Norwegian company Odfjell. (macauhub)