Maputo

Maputo is located on the southeast coast of Mozambique (full name: THE REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE) at the mouth of the Espirito Santo River, on the west bank of Maputo Bay, on the southwest side of the Indian Ocean. Also known as Lourenco Marques, it is Mozambique's largest seaport. First built in 1544, the port developed rapidly after the railway to South Africa was completed in 1855, becoming one of East Africa's largest ports. It is now the capital of Mozambique and the country's political and economic center, commanding the sea route between the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic, and its geographical position is important. It is also the country's largest industrial base, with major industries including oil refining, textiles, sawmilling, chemicals, sugar refining, food processing and cement, and it has the country's largest cashew processing plant. The port's hinterland includes not only southern Mozambique but also Zimbabwe, South Africa and Swaziland. The port is about 4 km from Maputo International Airport, with regular flights to destinations around the world. The port has a tropical savanna climate, with southwest or south winds prevailing in the morning and northeast or southeast winds in the afternoon. The annual average maximum temperature is 30 degrees Celsius and the minimum is 14 degrees Celsius. The annual average rainfall is about 800 mm, with the rainy season from December to February of the following year. The spring tide is 3.4 m and the neap tide is 2.4 m. The port area has 11 main berths, with a quay length of 3,275 meters and a maximum water depth of 12.8 meters. Cargo handling equipment includes various shore cranes, mobile cranes, container cranes, heavy-lift cranes, ship loaders, conveyor belts and tugboats, among which the maximum lifting capacity of shore cranes is 60 tons, heavy-lift cranes reach 80 tons, and the maximum power of tugboats is 2,350 kW. The port area has a bulk and general cargo yard capacity of 430,000 tons, container storage capacity of 1,300 TEU, and oil tank capacity of 200,000 tons. Handling efficiency: 2,900 tons of grain per day, 5,000 tons of coal loaded per day, and 10,000 tons of sugar unloaded per day. The port's transit zone was first built in 1980. In 1992, container throughput reached 13,000 TEU, and annual cargo throughput was about 25 million tons, of which about 90% was transit cargo. Main export cargoes include coal, iron, asbestos, chromium, manganese, corn, sugar, fruit, sisal and cotton, while import cargoes include timber, fertilizer, fuel, machinery and grain. During holidays, no work is done on New Year's Day, while work continues as normal on other holidays.