A consortium between dredging companies Rohde-Nielsen and Emodraga has been appointed to execute a maintenance dredge of the channel starting towards the end of July with works expected to take 4 to 6 weeks. The channel will be re-certified at 11.0m below chart datum after completion and surveying. Only until completion of the maintenance dredge, and as a result of silting up of the channel discovered during the latest survey, the channel design depth is considered to be 10.5m below Chart Datum, with vessels up to 9.5m being permitted to sail unrestricted and vessels from 9.5 to 12m being tide bound. Anything over 12m will be handled on an exceptional case by case basis only (e.g. Spring Tides of over 3m).
Maputo Port operates with 1.0m under keel clearance (UKC), which is considered a safe margin for the local sailing conditions, channel width, vessel squat etc. Subsequent to the maintenance dredge vessels with a draft of up to 10.0m will be able to sail unrestricted, and 12.5m tide-dependent.
