The Port of Maputo today inaugurated two new mobile cranes that should increase the volume of cargo handled. The ceremony was attended by the Port's Executive Director, Osório Lucas, and the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mateus Magala.

The new cranes will be able to handle 45,000 tons of cargo a day, compared to the previous 30,000 tons.

"Our handling capacity will increase by an average of 15,000 tons per day in operational capacity. Before the introduction of these machines, we closed the first half of the year with around 15 million tons handled compared to 26.7 for the whole of 2022, which means growth of around 18% or 19%, but this is preliminary. We've been operating for six months and we'll continue to monitor it," he said.

By the end of this year, the Port of Maputo expects to handle more than 29 million tons of cargo.

According to Mateus Magala, the investments being made by the Port of Maputo are aimed at increasing infrastructure efficiency and competitiveness.

"Mozambique's geostrategic location confers a very great advantage and one that we think we can take full advantage of for the development of our corridors, which should not just be transit corridors, but corridors that promote the development of our country and the well-being of our people," he said.

For the Minister, all this growth imposes new challenges, so there is a lot of work to be done to ensure the fluidity and efficiency of the logistics chain.

"From our perspective, it is essential that all the players in the corridor are aligned and working together in order to overcome present and future challenges," he said.