Soyo - The minister of Transport, Ricardo Viegas D`Abreu, said Tuesday that the expansion of National Cabotage necessarily requires greater investment in the sector.
The minister was speaking virtually from Luanda, at the 5th Roundtable of the Association of Angolan Ports (APANG), taking place in Soyo city, northern Zaire Province.
He emphasised that more investment was needed in acquiring vessels, training staff, adopting modern and sustainable technologies to improve the quality of the services provided and to protect marine resources.
He also emphasised the progress made by Cabotage North, which covers the Luanda/Cabinda/Soyo routes and vice versa, over the last two years, and called for this performance to be replicated in Cabotage South.
He said that from April 2022 to December 2023, Secil Marítima, the company that operates Cabotagem Norte, recorded 844 trips made, with the highest productivity on the Soyo/Cabinda and vice versa maritime route, with 641 trips made.
These journeys, he added, resulted in the transport of 106,000 passengers, with a monthly average of around 30,311 passengers.
Ricardo D`Abreu said that the peak was reached in December 2023 with 14,471 passengers transported by Secil Marítima, emphasising that these figures show a sustainable growth trend.
He also referred to the period from January to February this year, during which four thousand passengers were transported.
In the cargo transport segment, the minister also acknowledged that there had been notable progress, as the volume transported from April 2022 to December 2023 was 3,400 tonnes, with the peak being reached in June 2023 with 593 tonnes.
In the first two months of 2024, according to the head of transport in the country, there was a volume of cargo transported of 540 tonnes, stressing that these statistics clearly show a marked upward trend.
He said that as part of the reforms underway in the country's transport sector, the national ports have been undergoing a process of reformulation, with the aim of increasing their efficiency, profitability and their contribution to the national economy, companies and the state.
In this sense, he emphasised the progress made and the strategic importance of national ports, stressing that the increase in national and international trade increasingly depends on these port infrastructures.
He therefore urged the managers of port companies to continue to observe good practices, to invest in training human capital and improving internal communication, so that, as he said, this transport sub-sector could continue to play its role in the national economy.
He considered the focus to be on efficiency and profitability in the operation of the transport of people and goods on both national and international routes, and to this end he reiterated the need for good management practices and internal control of companies in the sector.
The transport minister hoped that the Roundtable, which will take place over two days in Soyo and another two days in Cabinda province, would bear fruit in terms of improving the quality and efficiency of port and national cabotage companies.
The event, which is being held under the slogan "National cabotage and its impact on the economy", is debating various topics, with emphasis on those linked to the regulatory framework for national cabotage, northern cabotage, the current situation and prospects.
The same activity will continue next Thursday in the province of Cabinda, where topics such as southern cabotage and the prospects and calculation of maritime transport freight will be discussed.
The opening ceremony was attended by the deputy governor of Zaire for the political, economic and social sector, Afonso Nzolameso.
Participating in the forum are the CEO of Angolan ports, executive and non-executive directors and technicians in the area, with special mention for the chairman of the Angolan Ports Association (APANG), Manuel Nazareth.
PMV/JL/DAN/jmc
