DUBAI, 27th April, 2016 (WAM/AIM) -- UAE-based company, Jan de Nul Dredging Middle East, has been awarded a contract for deepening the access channel in Maputo port from its current 11 metres to 14.2 metres. Maputo is the capital of Mozambique in southern Africa.
According to the Mozambique News Agency, AIM, the contract was signed last week by EPDM, a holding company owned by Mozambiques public port and rail company, CFM, DP World of Dubai and Grindrod of South Africa, the main shareholders in the Maputo Port Development Company, MPDC, which holds the lease on the port. Jan de Nul Dredging Middle East is one of the worlds largest dredging companies. The cost of the dredging is expected to be in excess of US$100 million, and will be financed by a consortium of banks headed by the BCI, Commercial and Investment Bank. The dredging will take ten months, and will involve three large dredging vessels. Preparatory work has already been undertaken, and Jan de Nul is confident that it will begin the actual dredging in early May. An estimated 30 million cubic metres of sediment will be removed from the 17 kilometre long channel. The deeper channel will allow ships of up to 80,000 tonnes to dock in Maputo. According to Mozambican Transport Minister, Carlos Mesquita, who was present at the ceremony, about 85 percent of the worlds shipping will be able to use the port. A separate Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Transport Ministry and Jan de Nul, under which the dredging company will provide training for Mozambican staff. All Mozambican ports, except Nacala, need dredging, Mesquita said, and Mozambicans, including those working at the state dredging company, Emodraga, must be trained in new dredging technologies. Mesquita was optimistic that with a deeper access channel, Maputo port will be more competitive and will attract more shipping. He hoped that in the not too distant future, further dredging will deepen the channel to 16 metres. "We have to become more competitive, by lowering costs and bringing benefits of scale to operators," declared the MPDC Chief Executive Officer, Osorio Lucas. "The larger the ship, the lower are the fixed costs, and the more attractive Maputo will become.""We are middlemen between demand and supply," said Lucas, "And so we are comfortable and confident that we are making the right investment and putting Mozambique where it should be, as a country with a long coastline."Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2016.
