By William Kumwembe in Beira, Mozambique:
The central Mozambican port of Beira remains Malawi’s gateway to the global market, with the country’s exports and imports volume passing through it increasing annually.
According to data handled by Cornelder de Mocambique (CDM), a private joint venture between Moçambique Ports and Railways (CFM) and Cornelder Holdings, exports volume grew by about 87.3 percent last year alone, from 17.3 million tonnes to 32.3 million tonnes.
The exports include agricultural commodities such as tobacco, tea and coffee.
Imports passing through the port into Malawi, which include fuel, fertiliser and pharmaceuticals, also grew by almost similar levels in the past year, according to figures provided by CMD.
Speaking to Malawian journalists who visited the port, CDM Operations Director Miguel de Jenda said room remains vast for Malawi private sector players and government agencies to utilise the port.
“The first thing is our geographical or strategic location. We are the shortest route to Malawi. And in terms of cost benefit, Beira Port is the best route,” he said.
This comes as Lilongwe and Maputo are enhancing efforts towards integration while putting up facilities for ease of doing business.
De Jenda said the Beira Port, which is roughly about 816.9 kilometres from Malawi, remains an ideal route for Malawi’s access the sea and global markets.
He said the port, which currently handles 400,000 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) per year, is on an expansion drive to almost double its capacity to handling 700,000 TEU by 2034.
According to de Jenda, among major facilities is expansion of a fertiliser handling terminal which will largely benefit Malawi—an agrarian economy.
“Malawi is an agri-based economy and fertiliser is a main input to increasing productivity. And the volumes for Malawi are increasing.
“When we start building the fertiliser terminal, this will increase the productivity in terms of the vessel we are handling,” he said.
The port of Beira in is a significant facility for Malawi’s trade and development, taking up about 70 percent of the country’s exports and imports.
Mozambican High Commissioner to Malawi Alexandre Herculano Manjate said Lilongwe and Maputo have enhanced efforts enable ease of doing business. Several joint projects are underway to see the two nations enhance integration and facilitate trade which include the rehabilitation of a railway line which will see Malawi cutting costs of transportation by a range of 30 to 40 percent when fully optimised, according to Manjate.
For instance, the expanded port of Nacala, which was inaugurated last year by President Lazarus Chakwera and his counterpart President Filipe Nyusi, is about 1,000 kilometers from Malawi.
“Let us use it for the benefit of our people. It can only take 10 hours to move goods by rail from Baira Port.
“We believe that using the Mozambican infrastructures, the ports and the railways, it is possible, realistically speaking, to reduce the price of goods in Malawi.
“It can reduce the price of oil, it can reduce the price of other goods in Malawi because the basic point of entry in Malawi is the port of Beira and Nacala,” he said.
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