Portos e Caminhos-de-Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) has announced that despite adverse weather conditions in 2023, the company recorded a profit of around $46.6 million (2.9 billion meticais), an increase of 26 per cent compared to the $35.6 million (2.3 billion meticais) recorded in 2022.
‘The economic and financial performance for the 2023 financial year was positive, despite the bad weather, in particular the passage of Cyclone Freddy, which hit the centre of the country with great intensity, having a negative impact on rail transport and port handling of goods and passengers,’ the entity said in its annual report.
The document published on Monday 29 July by Lusa recalled that the passage of Cyclone Freddy led to the paralysis of operations at the Beira Oil and Coal Terminals and Maritime Services for a period of ten days during March, highlighting that ‘railway operations were seriously affected by the paralysis of the Sena Line for 35 days, which affected coal traffic and its handling, generating losses of up to 506 million meticais’.
“The southern region of the country also faced floods that resulted in derailments on the Ressano Garcia and Goba lines, negatively impacting railway performance during the first half of 2023. The damage generated was estimated at 1.9 million meticais,’ it said.
The report also clarified that the CFM board decided to invest 65 per cent of the profits in reserves, and the remaining 35 per cent in paying dividends to the state. In the same period, more than 8.7 billion meticais were invested in improving the railway-port equipment.
