The inauguration on Friday of the coal terminal at the port of Nacala-a-Velha and the railway line to transport ore mined at Moatize is expected to increase exports and even make coal the main product exported by Mozambique, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reported recently.

According to the Mozambican press, the ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of Mozambique, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Aloysio Nunes Ferreira Filho, the heads of the Brazilian group Vale and the state-owned Portos e Caminhos-de-Ferro de Moçambique (CFM), the two main shareholders of the Nacala Integrated Logistics Corridor.

The Moatize-Nacala railroad stretches over 900 kilometres and required an investment of US$4.1 billion, which was spent on the construction of new sections and the reconstruction of others, both in Mozambique and in the 200 kilometres in Malawi.

The railway is intended to allow the annual export of 18 million tonnes of coal and will be used by twenty trains which will drop off coal in Nacala will to be loaded onto ships.

“Moatize’s coal is well positioned internationally to supply, at a competitive cost, the markets of Asia, Europe and even Brazil,” the Vale mining group said.

The EIU recently wrote that the increase in production from the Moatize mine, from 8.7 million tonnes in 2016 to 13 million in 2017 and 18 million in 2018, would probably be enough for coal to overtake aluminium as the largest source of export revenues in Mozambique. (macauhub)