TCM Gearing Up for Panamax Ships
The recent dredging to the Port of Maputo, Mozambique, access channel, early this year, from -11 to 14.3 meters served as an enabler to other infrastructure projects, some already taking place at the Port.
According to a press release, Terminal de Carvão da Matola (TCM) will be the port’s first terminal to take full advantage of the dredging initiative with its Berth Deepening and Expansion project has inaugurated last week.
The works include, on the marine side, the deepening of its existing berth, refurbishment work and the extension of the quay by an 8.5 meter offset. Furthermore, the larger TCM ship loader has been modified, with the boom extended to load at this offset.
An engineering study is underway to evaluate the changes that need to be made to the second ship loader, where the modifications will then be implemented in the latter half of the year.
The berth pocket has been dredged to –15.4 meters below Chart Datum to accommodate the loading of fully-laden Panamax vessels and in response to the recently completed dredging of the navigational channels to the Port of Maputo.
Among the items installed at TCM is a new fender support structure and fender system that extends the existing quay as a result of the deepening of the berth pocket. The installations and modifications were completed during a 19 calendar day operational shutdown of the existing quay. The berth was reopened on 5 July 2017 for hot commissioning and testing.
During the period January to June, TCM, an open storage dry bulk handling terminal customised to handle coal and magnetite, exported 750 000 tons of coal and 1 800 000 tons of magnetite. The increased volumes are attributable to the demand for export capacity driven by the recovery in commodity prices, and the support from our rail partners Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and CFM.
Railing continued to TCM during the berth outage period so that export volumes can increase significantly from July onwards as the terminal stock levels will be near capacity.
Following the berth shutdown, TCM plans to run at 185ktpm – 200ktpm coal exports for the remainder of 2017 in addition to the 300ktpm – 350ktpm of magnetite.
