Port Maputo


Port Maputo, or the Maputo Port Development Company, is a parastatal authority that operates and governs the Mozambique ports of Maputo and Matola, located in the south of the Mozambique Channel in the southwest Indian Ocean. It is a partnership among the Mozambique Ports and Railways, Dubai-based DP World, and Grindrod Ltd, a South African holding company. The company was hired in 2003 by the government of Mozambique and functions as port operator and port authority, directing shipping, port maintenance, security, cargo terminal management, and future development planning. Major port operator Dubai Ports World has invested in the company and its 15‑year government concession.

History

The Port of Maputo had been a busy hub much before the establishment of the Maputo Port Development Company ; in 1972, it was handling close to 17 million tons annually. The Mozambican Civil War, which began in 1977, disrupted this streak of prosperity; by 1988, the Port of Maputo barely handled a million tons per year. The war ended in 1992, but it was not until 2003, when the MPDC was formed as a public-private partnership, that the Port of Maputo began to see an increase in business. The port went from handling 4.5 million tons per year in 2003 to handling 14 million tons—the expected throughput of 2012.

Port

The deepwater port of Maputo consists of two principal areas of usage:
In November 2019, international oil major Total S.A. and a gas developer, Gigajoule, signed a joint development agreement for the importation of Liquefied natural gas at the Matola harbour, Maputo. The project is expected to commence from 2022 and will see a floating storage and regasification unit moored at the harbour.