Mozambique: Malawi Cargo Returns to Nacala Port

Maputo

Significant amounts of Malawian exports and imports are once again using the northern Mozambican port of Nacala, reports Monday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

The port, and the rail corridor that connects it to Malawi handled 119,351 tonnes of cargo in September, which was the largest volume in a single month since the leasing of the port to private management in January 2005.

This was a 63 per cent increase on the August figure, and is thanks to a sharp increase in traffic to and from Malawi.

The port handled 4,107 containers in September, which was a 55 per cent rise when compared with August.

By the end of the third quarter of this year, Nacala port had handled nearly the same volume of cargo as in all 12 months of 2006.

Fernando Couto, one of the executive directors both of the Northern Development Corridor (CDN), that manages the Nacala system, and of Central East African Railways (CEAR) of Malawi, said "There has been patient work to win back the Malawian clients, and valuable aid from the Malawian government, that started believing again in the Nacala Corridor".

It had been about four years since Malawian tobacco had been exported through the Nacala port, but the tobacco containers are back this year.

However, the largest volumes of cargo were the import of fertiliser for Malawian agriculture, and of raw material for Malawian cement production.

There is great pressure for the fertiliser to be delivered to Malawi in good time. Since September 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser was unloaded at Nacala, and about half of it has been transported by rail to Malawi.

According to Couto, CDN and CEAR have been in close contact with the Malawian authorities to ensure the removal of any obstacles to the delivery of fertilisers.

The influx of cargo into the port has had a positive impact on the railway line. By the end of September, the railway services had handled 31,356 tonnes of cargo on the line linking Nacala to Entre-Lagos, on the Malawian border, which compares with only 20,678 tonnes for the whole of last year.

Despite the shortage of engines and wagons, the good cooperation between the Mozambican and Malawian railway systems led to positive results, that are encouraging the clients to use Nacala port and the railway.

Couto noted that "since January this year, the two railway systems are being managed with resort to their own funds, with no external financing. We have started relying on our own efforts, and now we are worth what we can manage to do".