The Port
The port of Maputo is the largest in Mozambique and is ideally situated, being the closest port to the industrial heartland of South Africa. All berths have between 7,0m and 11.0m draft alongside and entrance to Maputo is via Canal du Nort.
Pilotage / tugs is compulsory in daylight hours only and pilots board at Buoy 6. Berthing / sailing is presently permitted only during daylight hours.
Exports from this region include steel products, ferro-alloys, coal, chrome ore etc.
The port of Maputo normally works 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the following facilities are available.
Coastal Berths: Used for interport coastal service, usually confined to local vessels only.
General Cargo Berths:Total length 3 275,0 m Draft available, varies between 7-10 m with some shore cranes being available
Steel Berth
Total length: 240, 0 m
Draft available: 12, 0 m
2 x 20 mt SWL cranes
Stockpile available: 150 000 tons
Average load-rate: 2000 mt/day
Terminals: Matola Coal Export Terminal: under management of AED Schedule
Total length: 210, 0 m
Draft available: 11, 0 m
Conveyor type loader with spout reach of 21, 3 m
Average loadrate: 8000 mt/day
Mozal Import/Export Jetty
The discharge of coke and alumina takes place at this berth. The berth caters for the export of Mozal's finished product, aluminium ingots.
Berth length: 210, 0 m
Draft available: 11, 3 m
1 x Vacuvator
300 mt/h
Container Terminal - under management of MIPS
Berth length: 300, 0 m
Draft available: 12,0 m
2 x gantries available, capable of handling 6, 0 m and 12, 0 m containers. Spreaders capable of 360 degree rotation. Storage available for 1000 TEUs
Sugar Terminal - under management of STAM
Berth length: 200, 0 m
Draft available: 11, 0 m
Covered storage area with conveyor loading system and two ship-loaders
Storage available: 120 000 mt
Average loadrate: 6 000 mt/day
Citrus Terminal - under management of MPT
Berth length: 380 m
Draft available: 10, 5 m
5 x 5 ton cranes
Pre-cooled storage for 500 000 cartons / cases of citrus
Tanker Terminal - under management of Petromoc
Draft available: 11, 0 m
Average discharge rate: 3500 mt / day
A dolphin type berth is available.
MAPUTO BAY
Maputo bay was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Antonio de Campo, one of Vasco da Gamas companions, in 1502, and the Portuguese post of Lourenco Marques (now Maputo) was established not long after on the north side of the English river.
In 1720 the Dutch East India Company built a fort and factory on the spot where Lourenco Marques now stands; but in 1730 the settlement was abandoned. Thereafter the Portuguese had trading stations in the Espirito Santo. These stations were protected by small forts, incapable however, of withstanding attacks by the natives.
In 1823 Captain W. F. W. Owen, of the Royal Navy, finding that the Portuguese exercised no jurisdiction south of the settlement of Lourenco Marques, concluded treaties of cession with native chiefs, hoisted the British flag, and appropriated the country, from the English river to the south. But when he visited the bay again one year later, he found that the Portuguese, disregarding the British treaties, had concluded others with the natives, and had endeavored to take military possession of the country.
Captain Owen re-hoisted the British flag, but the sovereignty of either power was left undecided till the claims of the Transvaal Republic rendered a solution of the question urgent. In the meantime Great Britain had taken no steps to exercise authority on the spot, while the ravages of Zulu hordes confined Portuguese authority to the limits of their fort.
In 1835 Boers, under a leader named Orich, attempted to form a settlement on the bay, which is the natural outlet for the Transvaal. In 1868, the Transvaal president, Marthinus Pretorius, claimed the country on each side of the Maputa down to the sea. However, the Transvaal acknowledged Portugals sovereignty over the bay In the following year.
Captain Bickford, R.N, in 1861, declared Inyak and Elephant islands as British territory; an act protested against by the Lisbon authorities. In 1872 the dispute between Great Britain and Portugal was submitted to the arbitration of M. Thiers, the French president. On the 19th of April 1875 his successor, Marshal MacMahon, declared in favor of the Portuguese.
It had been previously agreed by Great Britain and Portugal that the right of pre-emption in case of sale or cession should be given to the unsuccessful claimant to the bay. Portuguese authority over the interior was not established until some time after the MacMahon award; nominally the country south of the Manhissa River was ceded to them by the Matshangana chief Umzila in 1861.
Another dispute arose between Portugal and Great Britain in 1889 as a consequence of the seizure by the Portuguese of the railway running from the bay to the Transvaal. This dispute was referred to arbitration, and in 1900 Portugal was condemned to pay nearly a million in compensation to the shareholders in the railway company.
Maputo Bay, formerly known as Delagoa Bay ("bay of the lagoon") is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique, between 25 40 and 26 20 S., with a length from north to south of over 70 m. and a breadth of about 20 m. The bay is the northern termination of the series of lagoons which line the coast from Saint Lucia Bay. The opening is toward the N.E. The southern part of the bay is formed by a peninsula, called the Inyak peninsula, which on its inner or western side affords safe anchorage.
At its N.W. point is Port Melville. North of the peninsula is Inyak Island, and beyond it a smaller island known as Elephants Island.
In spite of a bar at the entrance and a number of shallows within, Maputo Bay forms a valuable harbour, accessible to large vessels at all seasons of the year. The surrounding country is low and very unhealthy, but the island of Inyak has a height of 240 ft., and is used as a sanatorium.
A river 12 to 18 ft. deep, known as the Manhissa or Komati, enters the bay at its northern end. Several smaller streams, the Matolla, the IJmbelozi, and the Tembi, from the Lebombo Mountains, meet towards the middle of the bay in the estuary called by the Portuguese the Espirito Santo, but generally known as the English river. The Maputa, which has its headwaters in the Drakensberg, enters in the south, as also does the Umfusi River. These rivers are the haunts of the hippopotamus and the crocodile.
If you want to know, more
For an account of the Delagoa Bay arbitration proceedings see Sir E. Hertslet, The Map of Africa by Treaty, iii. 991-998 (London, 1909). Consult also the British blue-book, Delagoa Bay, Correspondence respecting the Claims of Her Majestys Government (London, 1875); L. van Deventer, La Hollande et la Baie Delagoa (The Hague, 1883); G. McC. Theal, The Portuguese in South Africa (London, 1896), and History of South
Africa since September 179,f, vol. v. (London, 1908). The Narrative of Voyages to explore the shores of Africa, performed under direction of Captain W. F. W. Owen, RN. (London, 1833) contains much interesting information concerning the district in the early part of the 19th century.
Maputo Province
Maputo is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 26,058 km2 and a population of approximately one million (2002). Matola is the capital of the province.
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