UAE-based company, Jan de Nul Dredging Middle East, and EPDM, the main shareholders in the Maputo Port Development Company, MPDC, officially signed the Maputo Port dredging contract last week.
The project will be financed by a consortium of banks headed by the BCI, Commercial and Investment Bank, with the estimated value of the contract over $100 million.
The dredging operations, aimed to deepen the Maputo Port shipping channel from its current 11 meters to 14.2 meters, will last 10 months, involving three large dredging vessels.
Preparatory works have already been undertaken, and Jan de Nul said that they will probably begin the actual dredging in early May.
An estimated 30 million cubic meters of sediment will be removed from the 17 kilometer long channel.
This dredging scheme is just one of a range of projects embarked upon by MPDC and various terminal operators within the Port of Maputo recently.
The rehabilitation of berths 6, 7 and 8 is currently under evaluation and is targeted to proceed in 2016.
All these developments will enable the port to meet growing demand and achieve significantly higher volumes per annum.
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