MOZAMBIQUE – The Logistics Group has invested R120 million (US$7m) to rebuild Matola Cargo Terminal (MCT) after a devastating fire incident in February this year, which will see the completion of the Maputo Cold Store and a fruit consolidation hub by the next citrus season next year.
Under the planned project, MCT will have a storage space of about 1,500 pallet slots from end of April 2023.
“If requirements and interest from the industry grows, we will further invest by racking the facility to 4,500 pallets,” says Anton Potgieter, CEO of The Logistics Group.
The cold store will enable exporters to send all volumes and mixed pallets since fruit can be accommodated under cooling, with no risk of going out of protocol in ambient.
This will allow the exporters easier packing and shipment pallet configurations out of the packhouse.
In addition, plug-in points will be installed at MCT so that containers can be packed and stacked before the vessel stacks open, allowing for a greater volume throughput.
To facilitate exports of South African fresh produce via the terminal, FPT, which runs private port terminals at the ports of Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, is set to be the exporter’s single point of contact, reports Fresh Plaza.
“In this way clients don’t have to deal with various entities and points of entry. They don’t have to apply for two set of credit applications but will be fully invoiced by FPT in South Africa.
“FPT will liaise with all exporters and use our established relationships and Warehouse Management System to enable the easy flow of cargo, coordinate truck flows, capacity allocations, receiving specs of loadouts and so forth,” says Paulo Franco, Managing Director of FPT.
There is capacity for the future development of cold treatment tunnels but, Anton notes, that will depend on customers’ commitments and volume allocations as well as protocols approved because it represents a substantial additional investment.
“This investment by The Logistics Group will further cement our place as the leading logistics service provider on the Maputo corridor for fresh and mining commodities,” says Paulo.
TLG is an integrated logistics company operates in Southern Africa with services across port, rail, warehousing and digital transport logistics.
The company was recently acquired by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and the Mokobela-Shataki consortium for ZAR1.6 billion (US$109.04m).
The transaction was financed by a mix of equity and debt financing with AIIM, through its South African IDEAS Fund and AIIF4 Fund, acquired a 74% stake in TLG.
The remaining 26% stake was acquired by strategic investment partners, the Mokobela-Shataki Consortium, sponsored by Moss Ngoasheng, founder and CEO of Safika Holdings, and Monhla Hlahla, former CEO of the Airports Company South Africa and current Chairperson of Royal Bafokeng Holdings.
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