In the 4th Quarter of 2007, Grindrod purchased the remaining shares of African Portland Industries ( API ) which is the company that owns the long term lease over the Bulk Handling Terminal at Matola in Maputo – Mozambique. Terminal de Carvao de Matola which is otherwise commonly known as the “Matola Coal Terminal” or “TCM” is now under the ownership and management of Grindrod Terminals.
TCM - was originally built in the 1960’s to handle the export of iron ore from Swaziland. TCM, in its record year exported more than 6.0 million tons. The terminal however deteriorated from the 1970’s until more recent years when API embarked on an aggressive refurbishment and upgrade program. Under the direct ownership of Grindrod this program has been even further accelerated. Investment has been approved in order to improve the integrity and reliability of the facility and to better handle more specialised products like sized coal in the future.
The terminal already has commitments for 2.5 million tons in 2008 and plans are in place to double the current volumes by 2009 to 4.5 million tons and to potentially increase to 8.0 million tons or more in future years. The ability to achieve such future volumes will however be largely dependent on the railways infrastructure and rolling stock capacity and the future commodity market conditions.
Although the terminal is capable of handling all dry bulk commodities, it traditionally only handles anthracite, coal, and magnetite. The terminal has its own exclusive berth, shiploader, stockpile area, rail tipplers, stacker reclaimer and conveyor handling system. The terminal is capable of loading small panamax vessels and it is located on the East Coast, close to the coalfields, and strategically positioned for shipments up the East Coast of Africa, Indian Ocean Islands and India. TCM is also geographically positioned to handle bulk exports like metal ores, coal, coke and breeze from neighbouring Zimbabwe.