Moçâmedes - More than six billion kwanzas were collected last year by the Port of Namibe, said this Monday, the president of the Board of Directors, Manuel Nazareth Neto.
The CEO, which took stock of the activities carried out from January to December 2023, said that dimension stones represented 95% of aggregate exports, compared to 4% for pig iron and 1% for miscellaneous cargo.
In this area, the source continued, forecasts for the current year indicate a cargo volume of around 1,108,533 tons.
In 2023, the Port of Namibe handled 1,088,524 tons of general cargo, 48% under cabotage, 46% for export and 6% for import, as well as a total of 23,662 TEU containers were handled, of which 12,181 full and 11,481 empty.
Likewise, 169 ships were operated throughout the year, 66 of which were linked to coastal shipping and 103 long-distance navigation ships.
According to Manuel Nazareth Neto, the forecast is that 181 ships will be operated this year.
The head of the port made it known that operating revenues and expenses for the year 2023 generated profitability for the company.
He explained that the company carried out work to recover financial assets, through a 'Task Force' created in 2023, which allowed the settlement of difficult-to-recover customer debts of around 4 billion kwanzas.
“The amounts recovered allowed an increase in the receipts efficiency ratio and an improvement in the amounts received, compared to those invoiced, in about 45%”, he highlighted.
In terms of proportionality of expenses, compared to receipts, there was also an improvement in terms of rationalization, as the amount spent represents only 75% of the amount equivalent to that received.
The official highlighted, on the other hand, the first export of 19.5k tons of pig iron, produced in Cuchi – Cuando Cubango, to the Chinese and United States markets.
He mentioned that, compared to the year 2022, there was a negative variation of around 23%, due to the closure of the Saco – Mar Mineral Terminal, within the scope of the ongoing Moçâmedes Bay Development Project.
For this year, he highlighted, commercial expectations point to a slight percentage reduction in the export of dimension stones, which drops to 90%, meanwhile offset by the rise in the export of pig iron and raw iron ore, which drops to 7%. and 2%, respectively, keeping the percentage of miscellaneous load at 1%. VR/FA/ASS/CF/jmc
