The Container Terminal at the Port of Nacala was paralysed on Friday and Saturday due to a request made by the ETG group to check the product being exported, which belongs to the Royal Group. The port’s managers are talking about economic losses.
The legal dispute between the two large agribusiness groups began at the end of 2022 and there are ongoing cases in the Nampula Courts and others that have already been decided. In December last year, Royal Group obtained a precautionary order from the Nacala District Court for the preventive seizure of boer beans belonging to the ETG group.
Weeks later, the ETG group applied to the court asking for an enquiry into the goods that were about to leave the Port of Nacala with 250 containers belonging to Royal Group among the cargo. ETG suspected that Royal Group was illegally exporting the pigeon peas that were seized in December.
The request was made to the Nampula Maritime Court and on Friday 15 of the 250 containers were unloaded for verification. Present were members of the Maritime Court, Mozambique Customs, the Port of Nacala and representatives of Royal Group and ETG.
Of the containers checked, no bóer beans were found, but another type of bean.
Since the suspected product was not found in the 15 containers, ETG is not giving up and now wants all 250 Royal Group containers on the ship to be unloaded.
Our newspaper understands that the 250 containers will be unloaded this Sunday, and on Monday the inspection of each container will begin. Meanwhile, the Port of Nacala is talking about huge economic losses.
The court warns that ETG could bear the costs of this operation if its suspicions are not confirmed.
The ETG Group is involved in agribusiness in several African countries, but in Zambia it is in the sights of the Zambian authorities for allegedly involving the lawyers of a senior manager of the company in a scheme to repackage fertiliser in ETG bags.
O País
