The Port of Nacala, in Nampula province, witnessed the arrival last week of the first cabotage ship carrying various goods as part of the relaunch of the interconnection of national ports.

The project was resumed with the aim of boosting inter-provincial trade, reducing logistics costs, relieving congestion on the roads and boosting business at the ports.

Unaite Mustafa, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Maritime Transport Regulatory Authority (ITRANSMAR), witnessed the arrival of the PRINCE ship, belonging to Moçambique Dugongo, carrying construction cement produced at its factory in Maputo province.

Quoted by "Notícias", he said that the initiative represents an opportunity for cargo that is currently mostly transported by road to be transferred to the sea, which will reduce the flow of trucks on the road and, consequently, combat road accidents involving freight transport.

At the time, the source encouraged the private sector to invest in transferring cargo that is currently handled by road to maritime cabotage, since each of the vessels will, in principle, make three trips a month.

For his part, Issufo Aly, Dugongo Mozambique's operations manager, said that the ship was due to return to Maputo at the weekend.

He explained that work is underway to set up cargo consolidation points to obtain information on goods moving between the south and north, ensuring that vessels don't return empty.

Also in Nacala, the parties visited the construction works of the new factory of the Mozambique company Dugongo Cimentos, which is expected to produce just over 13,000 tons of cement per month.

With the amount of cement being produced in that region of the country, the factory intends to take advantage of the Port of Nacala to export the product to "hinterland" countries such as Malawi and Zambia, as well as taking the material to various parts of the country. (News)