Essar Ports to Develop Coal Terminal in Mozambique

India’s port company Essar Ports has signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Government of Mozambique to develop a new coal terminal at Beira Port. 

The deal forms part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project that will be executed on Design, Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (DBOOT) basis through a subsidiary, New Coal Terminal Beira, SA (NCTB SA), which is a joint venture of Essar (which will own 70) and Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM, which will own 30%).

The project aims to enhance the coal handling capacity of Mozambique by 20 MTPA in two phases of 10 MTPA each, Essar said.

“We would like to congratulate the Government of Mozambique for this initiative and for partnering with Essar on such a prestigious national-level project. It will not only boost coal exports from Mozambique and strengthen its economy, but also deliver significant direct and indirect benefits, Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & Managing Director, Essar Ports, said.

Mozambique is estimated to have reserves of over 23 billion tonnes of coal, which makes the country a major coal exporter that is well placed to cater to the international steel & power industries, especially in India, China, Japan and Korea.

The NCTB has dedicated rail connectivity to Mozambique’s coal mining belt in the Tete region, which CFM has recently enhanced to a capacity of 20 MTPA.

The first phase of this project will be developed at a cost of close to USD 275 million and will entail developing dedicated berths, along with mechanized and environmentally-friendly systems, Essar added.

Essar Ports has five operational port terminals at Hazira, Vadinar, Paradip, Salaya and Visakhapatnam.

The company is expanding its Hazira port capacity by 20 MTPA, which will take the capacity to 50 MTPA, and is working on adding iron ore berths at Visakhapatnam Port with a total capacity of 16 MTPA.