Johannesburg - Port Maputo, the recently concessioned harbour in the Mozambican capital, has moved a step closer to being an effective competitor to Durban.The Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) said yesterday that it had appointed Dredging International Group, a Belgian company, to restore the 100m wide port approach channel to its design depth of about 9.4m. This would involve the removal of about 2 million cubic metres of spoil.

The project would start at the beginning of December and be completed in February.

It said that at high tide the port would have a depth of 12.4m. Due to lack of maintenance it now has a low-tide depth of only 7.5m. The MPDC said the dredging would allow deep-draft bulk carriers access at most stages of the tide, day and night.

Other work at the port, which was severely run down over the past 30 years, includes installing an electrified perimeter fence.

Alec Don, the port's chief executive, said key operational buildings were being refurbished, and new equipment meant that productivity was improving significantly. The dredging was "possibly one of the most important steps in the process of improving the capacity and efficiency of the port".

The MPDC has an ambitious $70 million, three-year rehabilitation project, which is expected to increase throughput fourfold to 18 million tons a year by 2018.  

This was the port's throughput in 1972.

MPDC is 51 percent owned by three European private sector firms, Mersey Docks Group, Skanska and Liscont. The remaining 49 percent is held by Mozambique's public sector.

Durban Port's general manager Themba Gwala said he was taking the threat of Maputo "more than seriously".

He said Maputo had already started taking some business from Durban - mainly steel and fruit which was produced in Mpumalanga.

Gwala said Durban would never be able to compete with some of the geographical advantages that Maputo had but it would be continuing to try to improve the efficiency of the port and of the supply chain.

Tish Schutte, the head of international trade at NafcocJCCI the merged Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry and National African Federated Chambers of Commerce and Industry - said it made sense for businesses exporting to the Middle and Far East to use Maputo rather than Durban.

She said Durban's problems were not getting sorted out, and using Maputo would probably cut turnaround times for both exporters and importers.

But she said there might be a problem due to the lack of sailings, but this would be sorted out when the port became busier.