Mozambican transport lost a fifth of its passengers in 2020, according to a new bulletin from the National Statistics Institute (INE) dedicated to the sector.

Passenger traffic was down 20.7%, while freight traffic fell 18.1%, reads the document that covers a year affected by severe traffic restrictions as a way to prevent the spread of covid-19.

Total passengers per mile - a standardized measure of measurement - fell from 48,579 in 2019 to 38,513 last year.

The rail sector was the most affected with a reduction of 75.6%, followed by air transport which lost 40.6% of passengers and shipping with 25.1% less compared to 2019.

In the case of freight, the value of tons per kilometer dropped from 18,538 to 15,183.

"The reduction in cargo traffic was influenced by the sub-sectors of air and rail transport, which recorded decreases of 41.21 and 25.61 tons per year, respectively," while maritime transport "saw an increase of 98.71 tons per year" - in other words, almost doubled, at a time when cabotage off the Mozambican coast has been reactivated.

Lusa Agency