Posted on November 16, 2017
Emergency dredging of the access channel to the port of Beira, Mozambique will allow larger draft ships to moor when it is completed within six months, said the director of communication of Mozambique’s port and rail management company, CFM.
Adélio Dias also told daily newspaper Noticias that the operation consists of cleaning the channel, the pier and the manoeuvring basin, by removing approximately 3 million cubic metres of sediment.
The operation has an estimated cost of 25 million euros, and the contract was awarded to Van Oord Mozambique, Lda, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Van Oord, following an international public tender.
Dias said this emergency dredging will return the width of the channel to 135 and 250 metres, as well as increasing depths of less than 8.0 and 9.20 metres along the straight sections and the Macauti curve, respectively.
Once the dredgingis concluded, the port of Beira is expected to receive Panamax type vessels again with a maximum gross tonnage of 60,000, twice than is the case at present, operating 24 hours a day.
The Port of Beira is a point of entry and exit for goods of some southern African countries without direct access to the sea, such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Source: Macauhub
