Maputo — The management of the central Mozambican port of Beira has categorically denied that it is losing cargo in favour of the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam.

Cited in Thursday's issue of the independent daily "O Pais', the head of the Beira Trade Association, Felix Machado, claimed that this year alone Beira has lost over 500,000 tonnes of cargo to Dar es Salaam.

The figure is a fantasy. A spokesperson for Cornelder de Mocambique, the company that operates Beira port, told AIM that in reality the cargo handled at the Beira container and general cargo terminals has been steadily increasing.

Thus, in 2022, the container terminal handled 258,000 containers. In 2023, the number rose to 327,000 containers - which is an increase of 27 per cent.

Between January and May 2023, the terminal handled 102,000 containers. Between January and May of this year, the number was 161,000 containers - an increase of 58 per cent.

The general cargo terminal handled 3.3 million tonnes of assorted goods, in 2022, rising to 3.5 million tonnes in 2023 - an increase of six per cent.

Between January and May 2023, 1.4 million tonnes were handled by the terminal. In the first five months of this year, the figure rose to 1.6 million tonnes, an increase of 16 per cent.

"We have not registered any reduction in the amount of cargo handled', said the Cornelder spokesperson. "Quite the contrary. We have experienced robust growth in the first months of 2024'.