The Japanese ambassador to Angola has given assurances that the Japanese government will continue to support projects in Namibe province, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the completed works of the second phase of the Namibe Port Rehabilitation and Modernisation Project.
Hironori Sawada pointed out that Japan had provided US$60 million in funding for this project under a partnership involving the Japanese private sector through the TOA Corporation.
This group is involved as a contractor in the Namibe Bay Integrated Development Project, which includes the expansion of the Namibe port container terminal and the refurbishment of Saco-Mar port.
The Angolan minister of transport noted that the works were completed in May of this year, 65 years after the order was signed for the start of construction work on the mooring dock of the then Moçâmedes port, according to state newspaper Jornal de Angola.
Ricardo de Abreu said that, prior to this intervention, the dock handled between eight and ten vessels per hour, which will increase to between 30 and 35 movements per hour, and static capacity raised from 1,700 to 2700 TEUs, and refrigerated connections will increase from 25 to 100.
He noted that with the complete recovery of the dock it will be possible to introduce new and more modern means of unloading including mobile cranes, allowing the dock’s handling capacity to triple and reducing docking times from an average of four to five days to one day per thousand containers.
“This port was already focused on the economy of this and the provinces of Huila, Kwando Kubango and Cunene and now, with the conclusion of the second phase, here in Namibe we will have a port capable of competing with its closest counterparts, in response to the growth in demand ahead of the resumption of mining and the increase of agricultural production in this region,” the minister said.
Source: Macauhub
