In the following lines, the Commercial Director of Agility makes a detailed analysis of the port activity in Mozambique.
“I am of the opinion that logistics can be the future of Mozambique, due to its geographical location and all the means that we have at our disposal. Mozambique is close to one of the largest ports, not only in the region, but also in the African continent, the Port of Durban, South Africa, a port that in itself is congested because it supplies various points in the region”, he concluded.
For Clávio, the port sector in Mozambique has high potentialities, however the biggest “Achilles heel”, continues to be the port fees. “There is a groundwork that has to be done by the Government, stakeholders, and all players involved in order to become more competitive and, consequently, more attractive than the port of Durban,” concluding that the cost-benefit is the main point in the decision making of any importer or trader.
Clávio pointed out a growth from 9.5 to 14.5 meters of depth at the Port of Maputo, a number that in his view, attracts ships called panamax, arguing further that the Port of Maputo should focus more on handling containerized cargoes rather than bulk cargo.
Agility’s Commercial Director justifies his position by stating that there has been an increase from 75,000 to 100,000 TEU’s per year, which is a big increase in terms of handling.
In the same vein, Macuácua congratulated Customs for the improvements in transit time for imports and cargo in transit, revealing that the goods no longer take a week, as they did three years ago, but now take 24 to 48 hours to clear.
The Port of Beira is the heart of Southern Africa
“I usually say that the Port of Beira is the heart of Southern Africa, but it has great waiting time problems. If we look, this port handled an average of 250,000 TEU’s of imports alone, that is, it handled more containers than Maputo, Nacala and Quelimane together,” he compared.
However, because of the price, Clávio Macuácua said that importers prefer to go to the Port of Dar es Salaam, instead of Beira.
Regarding the Port of Nacala, Macuácua has no doubts that it is one of the largest corridors in the world in terms of depth, despite the fact that it is little explored, benefiting Vale, which receives large ships.
“We are not making great use of the infrastructure. These are aspects that would put the country more exposed and well placed in the world logistics ranking,” he said.
Agility – Storage and logistics solutions
Clávio Macuácua believes that the company believes that the solutions related to logistics are outside the port and not inside, with the role of the port being only to handle cargo.
“We look at our park as a storage solution, outside the port, and that is where the logistics should happen. You see we are located 90 kilometers from Ressano Garcia and there is a need to have warehouses of the standard we have,” he described.
