Having heard so much about the astonishing changes that the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI) has made in recent years, Endeavour Magazine spoke with company CEO Barbara Monmen to get to the heart of their success story.

CLEARING THE WAY

FOR Trade

WRITTEN BY KATIE RICHARSON

“The Port of Maputo is in an ideal location for exports to

India and the Far East and for transit into the eastern

SADC (Southern African Development Community)

region,” she continues. “However, there have had to be a number

of developments. For example, when MCLI first started, we had no

container lines calling the port, which meant that cargo owners could

not ship containers out of the port although they wanted to, so there

was the typical chicken and egg scenario.”

Until just under a decade ago, infrastructure and economic

development had been a serious cause of concern for the governments

of Mozambique and South Africa. A major hurdle in any real trade

progress was the crumbling rail and road links to the southern city of

Johannesburg. With desires to create new investment connections to

establish their fluctuating economies, the leaders of both countries

decided it was economically and socially important to sustain key

elements of the transport corridor that links the city of Johannesburg

and the industrial heartland of Southern Africa with the Port of

Maputo, the parastatal authority in Mozambique in the southwest

Indian Ocean. Thus, the Maputo Development Corridor was launched

in 1996, and developed as a Spatial Development Initiative (SDI), an

integrated planning tool aimed at promoting investment in regions

of the country that were underdeveloped but had great potential for

growth. An additional awarding of the port concession in 2003 and

an investment of $60m in the port’s rehabilitation, alongside a 20-

year master plan also aims to see a $1.7bn investment in equipment,

training and infrastructure.

“Our task could be really simple,” Monmen says. “We provide a platform for inward investment on the Corridor; removing barriers along it, coordinating and liaising and facilitating the necessary changes to ensure investment and to unlock barriers to trade.”

MAPUTO CORRIDOR LOGISTICS

Establishing Its PlaceThe aim of MCLI as a non-profit organisation is to act as a viable

network to sustain an economically-sound future for all industries

which rely on it. Service providers, stakeholders, and infrastructure

investors from Swaziland, South Africa and Mozambique have all

pooled their resources together in order to secure its promotion and

further development as the region’s primary logistics transportation

route, and are now able to strive for developmental targets rather

than the profit margin. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing to begin

with.

“During the early part of the first decade, there were huge border

delays and terrible congestion which compromised the efficiency of

the logistics chain into the port itself,” says Monmen. “Our original

remit was to promote the benefits of the port on the basis of distance

versus the costs of the logistics chain for products in transit from

the north-eastern area of South Africa. The port also forms a key

departure point for the emerging markets of India and the Far East.”

There were also problems with employee resources; with just a

small workforce it was rather difficult to get things done. “You can’t

manage if people don’t believe in the validity and importance of what

they’re doing and while it is a challenge, the changes are substantial

and you can’t argue with the

results,” says Monmen.

You certainly can’t argue

with the results being generated

by the MCLI. More than $64m

has been invested into the

Port of Maputo since 2003,

and the improvements to

infrastructural development are

vast. New warehouses, tugs,

equipment, operations and quay

rehabilitation related to road

and rail improvements in the

region have all been successful,

as well as updates to the Matola

coal terminal. A further $61m

has been invested into the

container terminal to increase

the capacity for cargo depots

and cranes. Other terminals

dealing in produce like sugar,

citrus, vegetable oils and larger exports like cars and Ferro slabs

are also benefiting. The depth of the channel in the port itself has

been increased to 11 metres in order to provide smoother access

to containers, and beyond the port, transport links on the Maputo

Corridor have been significantly improved, with train journeys

dropping from a whopping 200 hours to 90 hours. All in all, just under

$300m has been invested in the Port of Maputo since 2003.

Competent Leadership As CEO, Monmen is perfectly placed to oversee a smooth

transition and worthy initiative. Her background lies in education; she

worked in the KaNgwane Administration and the Premier’s Office in

the Mpumalanga Government, a province of South Africa, where she

worked on a number of project developments. “Prior to that I obtained

a Certificate in Development Management from the University of

Manchester in the UK, followed by a short spin at the Cabinet Office

in London,” she says.

“My interest in the Maputo Corridor developed while I lived in

Mpumalanga where I worked in the Chamber of Business. I had,

during my tenure, begun to explore business relationships between

Nelspruit in South Africa and Maputo. I joined in 2006 as the chief

MAPUTO CORRIDOR LOGISTICS

operations officer and was appointed as CEO in July 2011.”

Monmen believes having a clear idea of what needs to happen in

order to plan appropriately is the key to the success of a project like

the MCLI, and she feels very strongly about economic development

and the growth of the private sector in the region. “Until there is a

mutual cooperation between the public and private sectors, we’ll

always have an issue,” she says. “MCLI has achieved this cooperation

to a considerable extent.”

Looking Forward “We want to raise the profile of the Corridor in the SADC (the

Southern African Development Community) region generally,

and we are particularly keen to deepen our collaboration with the

government of Swaziland,” Monmen says. “For the moment we face

the challenge that the majority of trade along the Corridor tends to be

one way, moving from South Africa to Mozambique. To fully capitalise

on what the Corridor is capable of we need to have more growth in

bi-directional movement and an increase in the usage of the Corridor

as a key transit route into the SADC region.”

The on-going success of MCLI and the determined work of

Monmen and her team have culminated in a highly productive

level of investment into the region, as well as making it easier for

the necessary requirements to be handled by stakeholders and

governmental departments. The efforts from all parties has enabled

a positive and productive direction for the company and Monmen

is quick to recognise the achievements: “Thanks to the significant

investment over the last decade, the Maputo Corridor has seen

incredible opportunities for growth and this will have a consequential

knock on effect when the region moves towards a free trade area,” she

says. “The drive towards borderless trade on our corridor is a passion

that we share with COMESA (the Common Market for Eastern and

Southern Africa), EAC (the East African Community), SADC, the

AU (African Union), and NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa’s

Development).

“It is only through the continued partnership of users and service

providers, including public sector agencies, that this corridor will

reach its full potential as an efficient, predictable, and reliable logistics

route servicing the region,” she concludes.

As a result of efficient management and timely investment,

notable growth in the project has already delivered impressive results

in the trade facilitation system. Coupled with effective collaboration

and partnerships, MCLI’s projected figures include a cargo volume

increase to more than 48.6m tonnes by 2030 and an extension for

the Maputo Port Development Company to 2043. All in all, MCLI

continues to hold its claim as a very efficient and powerful working

machine.

“The Port of Maputo is in an ideal location for

exports to India and the Far East and for transit into the eastern SADC (Southern African Development Community) region.”

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