Maintenance dredging to the Port of Maputo quays will begin on Friday, 24th October, using TNPA’s brand new dredging vessel Italeni. This campaign will ensure that all quays are returned to their designed depth and the dredger is expected to remove approximately 25,000cum of dredged material.
The contract for the dredging was signed last month at the Port of Durban, South Africa, and the dredger arrived on the 21st of October 2014.
The agreement to use Italeni, a 750 m3 grab hopper dredger, forms part of an MoU signed with TNPA in June last year, with both ports commiting to strengthening relationships. The work is expected to be completed by the end of November 2014 and plans are in place to minimize the impact on shipping operations.
The MoU with TNPA has resulted in the training of employees at TNPA’s Maritime School of Excellence, the acquisition and refurbishment of a tugboat (already in Maputo), as well as the dredging of all the port quays.