The Port of Maputo accumulated losses of 384 million meticals in ten days of post-election demonstrations called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane to repudiate electoral fraud, among other reasons. This is a sum paid to ships for delays in loading or unloading, as set out in a preliminary study report on the impact of the demonstrations on economic activity.
According to an article published on Friday 15 November by the Carta de Moçambique news portal, the port of Maputo, the country’s largest, was one of those affected by the demonstrations. The port receives between 1,200 and 1,300 lorries a day. However, with the demonstrations, the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) revealed in a preliminary study report that the flow of lorries to the port has dropped to around 300 lorries a day.
In addition, citing data provided by Grindrod, part of the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC), the infrastructure concessionaire, the executive director of the CTA, Eduardo Sengo, explained that, for ten days, at least ten ships were stopped at the Port of Maputo without loading because the flow of lorries didn’t allow it.
According to Sengo, for each day lost, the ships charged the port’s managers 3.8 million meticals (60,000 dollars), which, multiplied by ten days, means that MPDC has lost 384 million meticals (or 600,000 dollars).
Eduardo Sengo
In the study, CTA gives the example that a Panamax or Capesize ship charges around 2.8 to 3.8 million meticals (45 to 60 thousand dollars) a day. Carrying coal or magnetite, these ships usually take around two to three days at the quay in a normal situation.
However, with the disturbances caused by the demonstrations, it took them longer, between seven and ten days, to complete the operation and continue their journey. ‘During this period, due to the demonstrations, around ten ships were waiting for cargo. Although it has not been quantified, the shipping lines intend to increase the costs associated with insurance, due to the deterioration in risk perception as a result of the demonstrations,’ reads the preliminary study report.
Presenting the study, the CTA’s executive director added that there were negative impacts for the transport sector. ‘Due to the demonstrations, several journeys have been postponed or cancelled. In the Maputo Metropolitan Region, journeys are structured into routes or corridors, and there are seven main ones. In the ten days of demonstrations, an average of 127 journeys a day were cancelled, resulting in a loss of 417 million meticals. Allied to this is the fact that the demonstrators put up barricades and demanded a fee (informal toll) to allow passage,’ said the source.
In total, the CTA estimates that the business sector has lost around 8.4 billion meticals, of which just over 1 billion meticals for the logistics sector.
According to Eduardo Sengo, who is also an economist, the losses recorded by the business sector will have an effect on various variables, such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and, consequently, economic growth, inflation and other indicators, such as employment.
