Page 17 - Case Study Annual 2018

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Maputo Corridor

optimisation

The Maputo Corridor is a true
transportation corridor, comprising road,
rail, border posts, port and terminal
facilities. It runs through the most highly
industrialised and productive regions of
southern Africa.

WITH THE congestion created at the South
African ports, namely Durban and Richards Bay,
and these ports being dedicated to containers
and coal respectively, the need arose to identify
alternative exit ports for commodities such as
magnetite, chrome and rock phosphate.
Maputo was identifi ed as the closest port to
the KwaZulu-Natal ports to export the identifi ed
commodities. A study was undertaken in 2013
to review the demand for Maputo along three
specifi c corridors:
• Ressano Garcia (between South Africa and
Maputo).
• Limpopo Line (between Zimbabwe and Maputo).
• Goba Line (between Swaziland and Maputo).

The challenge
The study revealed that the 2020 demand for
Maputo via the Ressano Garcia Corridor would
exceed 20 million tons, so the strategy for the
Maputo Corridor was to grow volumes in excess of
21 million tons per annum. Whilst rock phosphate,
chrome and magnetite were identifi ed as the
anchor commodities for Maputo, coal as a critical
export commodity was also taken into account
as key for growth of the corridor. For junior and
emerging miners, the ability to obtain capacity at
Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) is diffi cult, so
Grindrod developed coal facilities in Richards Bay
and Matola to provide junior and emerging miners
an opportunity to participate in the export market
for coal.
The solution
Various studies were undertaken to confi rm and
validate the volume demand, identify problem
areas in the channel that increased dwell times,
and understand and match the capability of the

The Logistics News Case Study Annual 2018 15