The concessionaire company of the container terminal at the Port of Maputo announced this Monday a dedicated rail link between the Mozambican capital and Harare, capital of Zimbabwe.

"DP World Maputo, which has the concession to manage, develop and operate the Maputo container terminal, on Friday dispatched the first dedicated container train service connecting Maputo and Harare, Zimbabwe," reads a statement.

The company intends to invest in connecting Maputo to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland by rail.

According to him, the port of Maputo is the fastest gateway to reach the Zimbabwean capital, the rail service will be bi-weekly - with the aim of becoming weekly - and the firm will be responsible for all port and border documentation.

The rail service comes after DP World Komatipoort in South Africa announced its first overland import from Maputo.

"International container imports landed at the port of Maputo and destined for the interior of South Africa can be moved under duty-free to Komatipoort, where their customs clearance can be arranged" for delivery throughout South Africa.

In the same statement, the multinational pledges to continue to "develop the Maputo Corridor," a trade route considered "vital" in southern Africa.

To this end, DP World intends to bet on "investment in new infrastructure to meet local demand, in parallel with the increase in the capacity of the container terminal," after the doubling of the area "between 2016 and 2018."