Maputo — The Northern Development Corridor (CDN), the private-led consortium that runs the northern Mozambican port of Nacala, and the Nacala-Malawi railway, expects to handle about one million tonnes of cargo next year, reports Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily 'Noticias'.

This would be a significant increase on the results for the year ending in November 2007, when 886,000 tonnes of cargo was moved. The figure for 2006 was 809,000 tonnes.

According to the CDN Chief Executive Office Fernando Couto, the million tonne target is feasible thanks to the commitment of the workers, who are said to be happy with new working conditions, which include a health post, and health and safety measures at the work place.

Speaking during a lunch to mark the end of this year's activities, Couto drew up a positive balance sheet of the company, saying that, in terms of containers, CDN handled 40,300 units this year, 7,300 more than in 2006.

He pointed out that this represents a significant growth if one thinks of the state of the Nacala port and other infrastructures in 2005, when CDN took over the management because then "conditions were very bad".

"Today, we can say that this port has reached the levels of others such as Beira and Maputo, thanks to our efforts to render it profitable as it has always been"', he said.

Couto said that two technicians of the company are to travel to India in the next few days to fix the last few details and sign an agreement for the purchasing of two more engines and other equipment to strengthen the CDN port and railway system.