With a foothold in Beira and in a number of Mozambican shipping companies, Rotterdam-based Cornelder Group is harnessing its many subsidiaries in order to win a bigger chunk of the country’s port management sector.
The Netherlands-based Cornelder group behind the Rotterdam Port Fund is hoping to secure new concessions for port terminals in Mozambique. The group already manages both bulk and container terminals in Beira, the country’s second largest port. In mid-April, it opened a new subsidiary, Moçambique Gestão de Terminais e Armazéns (MGTA), in order to expand its port management activities.
Currently, the country’s main ports are all under concession. Maputo port is handled by Dubai-based DP World through to 2043, while the development of Pemba and Palma ports to provide logistical support to gas extraction projects in Cabo Delgado has been subcontracted to business magnate Gabriele Volpi, a dual Italian and Nigerian national.
The only room for manoeuvre appears to be in the Nacala corridor concession currently managed by Nacala Logistics. In January, the Japanese conglomerate Mitsui began selling its shares to its co-shareholder, Brazilian mining giant Vale. At the same time, Vale announced that it was phasing out its huge Moatize mine, the reason for its presence in the Nacala Corridor, which links Moatize to the sea.
Cornelder CEO Ellen Van Dam may well use her contacts in Maputo to make her company’s case. The former director of Cornelder in Mozambique is none other than Carlos Mesquita, the former transport minister who is now in charge of industry and trade.
