The trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Ilembe, owned by the South African Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), has just arrived in the Mozambican capital to resume dredging in the Port of Maputo access channel.
According to the official plan, the TSHD will remove 550,000 cubic metres of sediment from the waterway.
The dredger is in Maputo to carry out maintenance dredging of the access channel to the Ports of Maputo and Matola.
This very important job, which will cover the areas of Polana, Xefina and the North channel, is estimated to take two months.
The Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA) dredger was hired as part of regular access channel maintenance dredging project, carried out every two years.
The last maintenance dredging was carried out by a Jan De Nul Group vessel in 2019/2020.
A priority intervention took place in the first half of 2022, to deepen waters at Quays 6, 7, 8 and 9. These works were limited to the quays and an intervention in critical sections of the Matola and Polana channels.