The Afungi Shuttle, announced on July 22, links the Afungi peninsula in northern Mozambique with dedicated feeder connections from Nacala and Maputo, giving contractors a scheduled sea route into a site that has spent most of the past five years cut off from normal commercial traffic.

The service is built around two rotations, Nacala to Afungi and back, and Maputo to Afungi and back. MSC says it will carry construction materials, machinery, industrial equipment, spare parts and other cargo needed for the development of the liquefied natural gas project at Afungi.

Customers get access through connections from trade lanes serving Europe, the Mediterranean, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Southern Africa, with a single booking and one commercial point of contact rather than a chain of separate arrangements.

That last detail matters more than it sounds. By folding the coastal feeder leg into the main booking, MSC is removing a handover point that has historically been where project cargo goes wrong, and where costs quietly multiply.

Why Afungi needs its own shipping line
Afungi sits on a peninsula in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost coastal province, a long way from the country’s established logistics corridors. Road links are thin, the nearest sizeable port at Pemba has limited capacity for heavy project cargo, and the region carries a security history that has kept commercial operators cautious.

The project the shuttle is designed to serve is among the largest energy investments ever attempted in Africa. TotalEnergies and its partners declared force majeure in 2021 after an insurgent assault on the nearby town of Palma, and the half built site sat idle for four years.

The consortium voted to lift force majeure on November 7 2025, clearing the way for full mobilisation at the onshore Afungi site and the offshore installation areas.

A full restart was announced jointly at Afungi on January 29 2026 by TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne and Mozambican president Daniel Chapo.

Construction has since resumed onshore and offshore, with more than 4,000 workers mobilised, of whom over 3,000 are Mozambican nationals, and the project standing at roughly 40% complete after most engineering and equipment procurement was finished during the pause.

First gas is expected in 2029 from a development designed to produce more than 13 million tonnes of LNG a year, with the government projecting as much as USD 35 billion in lifetime revenue from taxes, profit oil and other contributions.

A project of that scale consumes an extraordinary volume of imported material. Steel, modular units, cranes, generators, camp infrastructure, pipe, valves and a constant flow of replacement parts all have to arrive by sea.

Without a reliable liner service, contractors are left chartering vessels individually, which is expensive, slow to arrange and difficult to plan against a construction schedule.

Nacala as the northern anchor
The choice of Nacala as one of the two feeder ports is telling. The port currently has capacity of 10 million tonnes a year and handled 3.5 million tonnes in 2024, running at about 35% of what it can take. Its container terminal is rated at 252,000 boxes a year, and its navigable channel runs deeper than 18 metres, removing the need for constant dredging.

In other words, Nacala has spare room and deep water, two things that are rare on this coastline. Maputo has also moved to concession an integrated expansion and development project at Nacala through an international tender, aimed at maximising capacity along the wider Nacala corridor.

That corridor, operational since 2016 after a USD 4.5 billion investment involving Vale, Mitsui and state operator CFM, connects the deep water port to a 912 kilometre railway.

Maputo, at the opposite end of the country, provides a second feeder point closer to South African industrial suppliers and to the established southern African logistics base. Between them, the two rotations give shippers a northern and a southern entry into the same destination.

A commercial bet with visible risks
For MSC, the shuttle is a low cost way to attach itself to a decade of project demand. The carrier operates a network of 675 offices, planning around 300 routes to 520 ports across more than 155 countries, and a short feeder loop is a modest addition to that footprint. If the LNG build runs to schedule, the return is a steady, predictable flow of high value project cargo through 2029 and beyond.

The risks are equally visible. The service is heavily exposed to a single customer base, and if the construction programme slows, so does the cargo.

Security in Cabo Delgado remains contingent on the continued presence of Rwandan and regional forces, and analysts have warned that a fortified project enclave does little for the communities outside its perimeter. There are also unresolved questions about resettlement and environmental impact in a sensitive coastal zone.

What to watch
The immediate test is utilisation. Feeder services into single project destinations either fill quickly or struggle, and the first few months of sailings will show which way this one goes. The second test is whether other carriers follow.

If MSC proves the route commercially, competitors will look at Pemba and Nacala with fresh interest, and northern Mozambique starts to acquire something it has never had, which is routine liner connectivity rather than one off charters.

The longer term prize is that a shipping lane built for gas construction does not have to stay that way. Ports serve whoever turns up.

Should the Afungi Shuttle survive past the construction phase, Cabo Delgado would gain a permanent maritime link, and a province better known for conflict would have a piece of infrastructure pointing in a different direction.

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In response to recent concerns expressed by the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique during the Business Environment Monitoring Council (CMAN) meeting in Maputo, the Central Bank’s administrator, Jamal Luis Omar, recently gave the information.

President Nelson Mavimbe of the Gas Merchants Association explains the worry by pointing out that acquiring foreign money in commercial banks can be challenging at times. He also challenged the Central Bank’s decision to withdraw from the gasoline bill, which merchants were also involved in. Mavimbe also expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of a fuel margin review over five years.

The purpose of Decree 89/2019, which defines fuel margins, is to guarantee a sufficient return on investment in the company to pay interest rates and other expenses.

“Our operational expenses are steadily rising, resulting in an unsustainable state,” Mavimbe stated.

In response to enquiries about the scarcity of foreign currency in commercial banks and the Bank of Mozambique’s decision to stop participating in the gasoline rate, Jamal Luis Omar notes that the Mozambican foreign exchange market is steady, and exports and conversion rates are both continuing as usual.

He clarified, “This policy aims to ensure that commercial banks have liquidity or foreign currency to serve their clients in export operations. Up to 30% of export earnings must be converted in commercial banks.”

Furthermore, he stressed that statistics on exchange rates indicate degrees of stability.

“Based on our analysis, we do not perceive a global disruption issue; nonetheless, we have learned of challenges faced by domestic business owners in obtaining foreign exchange through commercial banks,” Jamal Luis Omar acknowledged.

He said that to determine the root of this issue, the bank is closely examining it. One thing he can guarantee is that the bank will act swiftly to maintain exchange rate stability in the event of any disruptions or widespread shortages of foreign currency.

Omar provided information regarding the fuel bill’s introduction in 2005, stating that the measure was necessary as a temporary fix as the nation’s economy matured due to export issues.

“The Bank of Mozambique’s decision to withdraw from the gasoline bill was a carefully thought-out and well-researched action, taken at a time when our economy matured in terms of exports, and the banks were appropriately informed about the withdrawal from this process,” Jamal Luis Omar concluded.

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The bank has remained committed to the cause of promoting financial education through accessible and comprehensive programmes, intending to empower communities, especially the rural ones. Access Bank Mozambique is backing these programmes to help the African nation’s population make informed and responsible decisions about their financial health.

“Every year, the Bank holds financial literacy sessions in various schools across the country, in the provinces where it operates. In 2023 alone, the initiative reached around 1,300 elementary school pupils,” stated Access Bank Mozambique, while interacting with International Finance.

“Initiatives around education have already benefited thousands of young people, namely through the equipping of school libraries, a programme created in 2022. In 2023, the initiative covered 14,000 students in the provinces of Tete and Nampula. In 2024, we have so far implemented this initiative in Chimoio and Nacala, where we have given away more than 1,000 books and impacted more than 10,300 students. The project aims to contribute to quality education by ensuring that more schools have access to books,” it stated further.

Access Bank Mozambique believes that the knowledge of basic literacy principles results in sound choices that benefit everyone’s future. This is why it has been developing various initiatives to educate the population, especially young people, on how to effectively manage their finances.

As a responsible bank with an eye on the future of young Mozambicans, Access Bank is now considering the education sector to be one of the fundamental pillars for the African country’s socio-economic development. Initiatives in this area, including sports, have benefited thousands of young Mozambicans, namely by equipping secondary school libraries.

In 2022, the Bank began a nationwide project to equip libraries, which was expected to continue into 2023. Last year alone, the initiative covered 14,000 students in the provinces of Tete and Nampula. The project, which has been drawn up in partnership with Alcance Editores, aims to contribute to quality education in the African nation, ensuring that more schools have access to books. This action also promotes knowledge among students and teachers, and also encourages reading habits.

“As part of its commitment to employability, the Bank trains young graduates as part of its Graduate Programme, which covers all the countries where Access Bank is present. The selected participants attend theoretical and practical classes and psychotechnical exams for six months at the School of Banking Excellence, located in Nigeria. The Bank continues to invest in various education projects which, in recent years, have reached an increasing number of people,” Access Bank Mozambique stated further.

Talking about the above initiative, which began in 2019, has already trained 49 candidates, 22 of whom are working at the Access Bank Mozambique itself. The selected participants undergo theoretical and practical classes and psychotechnical exams for six months at the School of Banking Excellence, located in Nigeria, the Group’s headquarters.

Access Bank Mozambique, in addition to investing in empowerment, education, and training projects, has also contributed to sports development in the country. In 2023, the bank rehabilitated the Futsal Field at the Maputo Commercial School by installing solar lighting and improving the fencing.

The bank’s commitment to supporting women and young people is evident through its investment in various projects that have positively impacted an increasing number of people.

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World Bank’s Country Director for Mozambique Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, said in a statement, “This investment will ultimately contribute to harness the role of (the capital) Maputo as the country’s economic powerhouse by investing in urban infrastructure and services, while supporting critical reforms to ensure that urbanization in Maputo can contribute to economic growth, poverty reduction and structural transformation.”

Last October, the World Bank granted Mozambique an initial $100 million in response to the nation’s efforts in fighting against the pandemic. Following that, the European Agreed to provide $116.30 million in aid for the same purpose, media reports said. 

The pandemic coupled with insurgency has affected Mozambique’s economy. The country is mired in a hidden debt crisis and the consequences of two cyclones that took place in 2019. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) estimated that at least $4.7 million was required per month to assist people who were affected by the fight in the north. Last December, it was reported that the country had recorded more than 16,000 positive cases. 

More recently, the World Bank has called for swift covid-19 action to limit the consequences of the pandemic on the global economy this year. Its forecast points to a 4 percent global economic expansion in 2021 following a 4.3 percent contraction last year.

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It is reported that a joint task force will be formed to strengthen the security for Mozambique LNG project activities in the Afungi site. In addition, security will be provided across the border area of project operations. Total has a stake of 26.5 percent in the project. Other companies like ENH holds 15 percent, Mitsui at 20 percent, ONGC Videsh at 10 percent, Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique at 10 percent, BPRL Ventures at 10 percent and PPTEP at 8.5 percent. 

Ernesto Elias Tonela, minister of mineral resources and energy, said in the statement, “This … bolsters security measures and endeavours to create a safe operating environment for partners like Total which enables their ongoing investment in Mozambican industry.” 

In fact, the project is expected to begin production next year. The project also comprises development of the Golfinho and Atum fields. These fields are located within Offshore Area 1 which has  more than 60 trillion cubic feet of gas resources.

Ronan Bescond, country chair of Total in Mozambique, told the media, “In view of the security situation in the Province of Cabo Delgado, our priority is to ensure the security of our workforce, many of whom residing in neighboring communities, and of the project operations. On behalf of our Area 1 partners, we appreciate the support provided by the government of Mozambique for the secure delivery of the project.”

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The reason for terminating acquisition talks is attributed to the protracted pandemic and the uncertainty that follows. This bank’s decision is in line with the board’s view, media reports said.

Equity Bank Group CEO James Mwangi, told the media, “Board of Directors have agreed to the entry into a binding term sheet through a share swap to exchange certain banking assets of Atlas Mara in four countries for shares in Equity Group.”

In January, it was reported that Equity Group’s plan to acquire four banks in Rwanda, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania will delay as the buyout deal was not made within the stipulated deadline. However, Equity and Atlas had planned to continue discussion further in 2020 to reach a mutual deal.

Now the pandemic has forced the bank to change its decision in acquisition plans. With that, the bank is more focused on conserving cash and liquidity to support customers during uncertain times. ”A strong capital and liquidity position gives us the strength and capacity to cushion our business, accommodate and walk with our customers during these challenging times,’’ Mwangi said.

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An innovative debt-swap initiative between the Russian Federation and Mozambique has unlocked a commitment of US$40 million, which will be used by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to support the Government of Mozambique to provide school meals for 150,000 children in Mozambique over the next five years.

In addition to providing debt relief for Mozambique, the initiative will free up new resources for development and support expansion of the Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (National School Feeding Programme), which seeks to provide school meals across all primary schools in Mozambique.

The debt swap is the largest in WFP’s history.

“Russia’s innovative move to convert debt into development funding will help feed a generation of schoolchildren in Mozambique,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “We are grateful to Russia and Mozambique for their willingness to embrace new financing methods that promote government ownership and strengthen important programs, and we encourage other government donor partners to look to these new methods that can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Despite Mozambique achieving its Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of hungry people in the country, nearly a quarter of its people face chronic food insecurity or malnourishment. Under the Mozambique Country Strategic Plan (2017-2021), WFP and its partners will work to ensure that children in chronically food-insecure areas have access to nutritious food throughout the year.

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February 6, 2015: Banco Único, one of Mozambique’s youngest but fastest-growing financial enterprises, has enjoyed a meteoric rise since it was established just three years ago, thanks to its dynamic and passionate approach to banking and focus on tailor-made solutions for clients.

It started operations by opening five branches in 2011. It was the 18^th bank to enter the market but is now the 6^th largest in the country.

Headed by industry veteran João Figueiredo, who in 2013 was honoured with the prestigious title of African Banker of the Year, Banco Único boasts an ability to adapt to the need of every company operating or investing in Mozambique, irrespective of the sector.

Already the sixth largest bank in Mozambique, it offers a diverse range of cutting edge financial products and banking services for individuals, and local and foreign companies of all sizes and across all sectors of the Mozambican economy. Figueiredo explains how the ambitious bank has gone from strength to strength and achieved such an impact on the country’s financial services landscape in such a short span.

“We recreated the way to do ‘banking’,” says the CEO and Chairman. “Our range of products is vast and includes all products commonly offered by banks, from mortgage lending to consumer leasing among others, but more than selling products and services, we design solutions for our clients. This transforms Banco Único into a ‘tailor-made bank’. A bank inspired by customers, that does not sell products but builds a common future, fully aligned with their needs and providing value-added solutions. This is the great secret of Banco Único.”

According to Figueiredo, the group’s ability to customise financial products and services for each client according to their specific industry or business area allows the bank to take advantage of greater amount of business and investment openings.

“We have a division of investment banking. This division has the ability to work to capture business opportunities,” he explains. “We have managers with substantial experience in the markets, who are able to identify investment opportunities here. We believe that partnerships have to add value and must be based on providing mutual competitive advantages. We have the ability to build these partnerships between international companies and local businesses.”

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20th November 2013

Travelling across Africa these days you are likely to run into increasing numbers of mining, oil, and gas industry personnel engaged in exploration, drilling, and extraction across the continent. Although commodity prices are moderating, the discoveries being made in Africa offer the real prospect of significant revenue to many cash-poor, aid-dependent governments in the decade ahead. If you care about development, the question is whether these revenues will catalyze broad economic development and whether they will benefit the poor in Africa.

Conventional economic thinking would say yes, with suitable qualification. As long as governments allocate the revenues to viable public investments, particularly in economic infrastructure which countries lack (roads, power systems, hospitals, ports), income and employment growth would be stimulated and the poor would benefit, so the theory goes.

Conventional political thinking would say, probably not. Those who believe in the rentier theory of the state would argue that rents from natural resources would strengthen the incentive for mis-governance, for political elites to divert revenues to patronage and corruption and away from public goods that would benefit the poor. In countries such as Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique, that are expecting significant revenues from hydrocarbons, political analysts see the risk of reversal of nascent improvements in accountability which would set back efforts to reduce poverty.

Both arguments presume that governments actually collect a reasonable share of the revenue from oil, gas and mining concessions. While governments can be (and often are) skillfully duped by sharp legal, accounting and transfer pricing practices, basic neglect of public stewardship can also play a role. A recent article in the New Yorkerdescribes how Guinea’s ageing President Lansana Conte gifted away, for a pittance, the right to mine the extraordinarily rich iron ore in the Simandou Mountains to an Israeli company, in effect losing almost five billion dollars that rightfully belonged to the people of Guinea.

Economists and political scientists appear to be converging to the view that the quality of institutions is the critical factor for countries to develop successfully, and to make effective use of natural resources. Institutions matter because they shape the incentives of politicians and political elites and determine the capacity of the state to perform. Politicians are unlikely to spend resources on public goods or on targeted subsidies to the poor if they can hold on to power by buying off key constituencies or if their political time horizon is short. Acemoglu and Robinson (2012) distinguish between “inclusive” and “extractive” institutions and demonstrate with vivid historical examples how, for much of history, powerful elites have established extractive institutions to capture resources for their narrow benefit, to the exclusion of the many. But we know very little about how inclusive institutions emerge and far less about how to create them over relatively short periods of time.

More than a decade ago, the World Bank tried to create a set of institutions in Chad, to ensure that the government would allocate oil revenues to benefit the broad population of Chadians, 62 percent of whom lived below the poverty line of $1.25 per day. But President Idris Deby Itno found these institutional arrangements irksome, they limited his discretionary authority to use the revenues to retain power and they were soon abandoned. One may draw the conclusion that grafting inclusive institutional solutions onto a political root stock that is deeply extractive offers little chance of success.

This is the dilemma for development agencies working to support poverty reduction in Africa and elsewhere. Institutions are critical but they need to be homegrown, shaped by a domestic consensus, and that takes time and the outcome is unpredictable. If political power is narrowly distributed, it is unlikely that natural resource wealth will be tapped to benefit the poor. There is a role for external actors to “nudge” the political equilibrium towards inclusive solutions and give the poor a political voice. Principles such as transparency of contracts, revenues, and public expenditure, can aid the process of domestic political debate but may themselves be resisted. Proposals to encourage governments to transfer a share of revenues directly to citizens, may also galvanize public engagement on the broader allocation of natural resource revenues. But how political elites will respond will vary. If institutional change is slow and resisted, the answer to the question on whether the poor will benefit from Africa’s natural wealth over the next decade may lean toward the negative if we continue to function with the current state of knowledge. All this argues for greater attention to the incentives of politicians and powerful elites and the design of institutions that are incentive-compatible and more inclusive, an important area for further policy research.

Source: WorldBank

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