The first train of 40 wagons with two thousand tons of coal mined in Botswana arrived at the Port of Maputo on Tuesday, confirming that Mozambique is now one of the routes for the export of that product.

This is a milestone in the agreements reached between the presidents of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, and Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, as part of the Mozambican statesman's recent visit to this country.

Speaking after the arrival of the wagons, CFM-Sul Executive Director Augusto Abudo explained that the locomotive arrived in Maputo after traveling about 1400 kilometers between Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

In Mozambique, the train traveled about 535 kilometers from the Chicualacuala border in Gaza province. The coal was extracted from the Morupule mine in the Palapye mining region of Bostuana.

The idea, according to Augusto Abudo is, in a first phase, for the Tswanese exporters to transport 32 thousand tons of coal per month through Maputo, equivalent to an average of four trains per week.

Augusto Abudo believes that the international price of coal tends to rise, which causes many mining operators to look for the national ports to export their ores.

Moreover, according to the source, in addition to Botswana, the Port of Maputo has sporadically received goods from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

"So from Zimbabwe you can connect several countries in the interland and we have from the Limpopo line been able to receive cargo and we believe we can connect all the countries in southern Africa," he said.

He said that following several investments made in recent years to maintain the railroad, the Limpopo line can be considered safe for freight and passenger transport.

"We are currently making two trains a day on this line, but we could make more because the Limpopo line is capable of more and we can assume that it is operating below its capacity," said Augusto Abudo, who also appealed to the communities living near the lines to avoid committing acts of sabotage of the railroads, a loss for the entire economy of the country.