Lobito — Three hundred and fifty-one ships docked at the Port of Lobito, handling one million 332 thousand and 451 tons of miscellaneous cargo in 2023.
Data were revealed on Monday by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of this company, Celso Rosas, during the New Year's greetings ceremony, showing an increase of 7.57 percent, compared to 2022.
However, he said that there was a reduction of 14.90 percent in terms of tons of cargo.
In terms of revenues, he said that the port collected, in 2023, more than 13 billion and 800 million kwanzas.
According to the official, compared to the same period of the previous year, there was a decrease of around 5.72 percent in revenues, as the company had collected more than 14 billion and 700 million Kz.
"This reduction was mainly based on the impact of port tariffs, the fluctuation of the currency, as well as the international situation that, in a way, has affected world maritime trade", explained Celso Rosas.
Celso Rosas also referred to the port company's debt to its suppliers.
"We have made an effort to honour our commitments to our suppliers. From a total of old debts, at the beginning of 2023, in the order of more than 26 billion Kwanzas, we were able to repay more than 620 million kwanzas, thus improving our relationship', he stressed.
Regarding customer debt, he said it amounts to more than 32 billion kwanzas, having a significant impact on the company's liquidity, so it is urgent to implement an ongoing debt collection plan.
2023 Achievements
The PCA highlighted the recovery of several machines and equipment, in particular the 50-tonne STS crane that had been inoperative for more than eight years.
According to him, the health of workers has been one of the biggest concerns of the Board of Directors.
In 2023, 12,557 consultations were carried out at the Porto clinic in different specialties for workers and their families.
The official also said that more than 42 training actions had been carried out at all levels, within the scope of human capital investment.
Regarding the company's responsibility, as Porto Senhorio, the PCA said that work is being done so that, by March this year, the conditions for the delivery of infrastructures and the transfer of staff are met.
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"At this stage, we are concluding the preparatory work with a view to completing the delivery process that is already underway, both at the level of Lobito Atlantic Railway, manager of the Mineral Terminal, and Africa Global Logistics, manager of the Multipurpose Terminal for general and containerized cargo".
The Port of Lobito is built in a bay of deep natural waters, approximately 5 km long, 600 meters at the entrance and almost 1.5 km at the widest part, with depths between 15 and 36 m, with 1.90 m being the largest tidal range.
The anchorages vary between 10.5 and 34 meters, with a maximum tide of 2 meters and a minimum of 0.2 meters.
Located on the west coast of the African continent, the port has a 200-meter channel at the entrance and 2000 meters at the widest part.
The port has two terminals, namely the Multipurpose and the Ore.
The multipurpose terminal has a total area of 241 million, 540 thousand and 94 square meters and a dock of one thousand and 199 meters.
It has a depth of 14.7 meters, with a capacity of 600 thousand tons for general cargo and 250 thousand TEU/year for containerized cargo.
The ore terminal, on the other hand, specializes in the operation of general cargo of containerized and bulk ores.TC/CRB/DOJ
