The president of the board of directors of Porto Comercial do Lobito, Celso Rosas, revealed that the company collected, in the last financial year, just over 13 billion kwanzas, but recorded a reduction of around 5.72%, compared to same period, in which just over 17 billion kwanzas had been allocated

The public manager lists, among other factors that contributed to the drop in revenue, the impact of the reduction in port fees, fluctuations in the national currency, in addition to the international situation, which, in a certain way, affected international maritime trade.

Throughout 2023, 351 ships docked at the Commercial Port of Lobito, handling a total of 1,332,451 (one million, three hundred and thirty-two thousand, four hundred and fifty-one) tons. “Obviously, there was an increase of 7.57 percent of ships compared to 2022, but a reduction of 14.90 percent of tons compared to 2022, in which 226 ships docked and handled a total of 1,565,863 tons”, he points out. Speaking at the New Year’s greetings ceremony, Porto’s PCA reports that, in the period under analysis, in relation to the number of containers, 13,432 were moved compared to 17,700 in 2022, thus making a negative difference of 24.11 Percent.

Regarding revenue collection, Celso Rosas states that, in 2023, the company recorded financial income in the order of Kz 13,860,629.47, resulting from the provision of port services. “We made an effort to honor our commitments to suppliers, and from a total of old debts, at the beginning of 2023, in the order of Kz 26,497,578,284.98, we were able to amortize the amount of Kz 622,370,897.8 , thus improving our relationship with our suppliers and partners”, he maintains. Following the results obtained last year, Celso Rosas considers the actions developed over the 365 days of management to be satisfactory. During the year just ended, your company developed numerous activities, among which, highlighting the holding of the first fair of that port entity, under the motto “Porto do Lobito, a port open to the world”, as well as the holding of a staff meeting.

The public manager states that, last year, the council he leads invested seriously in the development of state economies, which have, over time, lacked large volumes of investment for expansion and modernization. “One of the reasons for greater involvement of private economic agents in port management”, he highlighted. The official points out that the port subsector has undergone, in recent times, transformation processes that have mobilized a broad adoption of reforms, leading to the privatization of important subsectors of its productive activity.

“It is, in this light, that the Government of Angola, through the Ministry of Transport, concessioned the ore terminal to Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) and, at the same time, the multipurpose terminal to Africa Global Logistic (AGL)”, he said. He added that, with these relevant facts, the history of the Port of Lobito will change, with regard to the management model, leaving the operating port model for the landlord port model, which will lead the administration to have as its main duties to regulate and monitor port activity.

BY: Constantino Eduardo, in Benguela