South African exporters such as Ford and BMW have taken a keen interest in the upgrade of the port, which they see as a potential alternative facility to South African ports which have experienced congestion problems.

Maputo Port Development Company, a private consortium that took over management of the port last year, described the dredging of the Polana and Xefina channels as a milestone.

The depth of the Maputo port's access channels has been restored to 9,4m and the minimum width to 100m.

"It means that large vessels with a 12m draft can now use the channels and that we can berth and sail deeper-draft vessels by day and night throughout the tidal cycle," said the port company's operations director, Ken Shirley, yesterday.

" Port Maputo is becoming more versatile in the range of services it can offer to customers."

The dredging project forms part of a $70m programme to rehabilitate the run-down harbour over the next three years.

In another move that was expected to improve port services, a new pilot cutter arrived at the port yesterday. The boat would deliver pilots to incoming ships much faster than previously, said Shirley.

The new boat was built in Durban and would go into service this week.

Port company CEO Alec Don said the restoration of the port's capacity, coupled with the introduction of new tugs and improved pilotage equipment, as well as considerable investment in shore-side handling equipment meant that the port was now "rapidly re-emerging as a cornerstone of the region's transportation infrastructure".