Good afternoon. At the weekend, the N1 highway in Inhambane province was blocked by heavy rainfall for the first time during the current rainy season. More such incidents can be expected over the next eight days, during which more heavy rain is expected.
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The N1 is Mozambique's windpipe: the country cannot survive for long when it is blocked. All ten of Mozambique’s provinces rely heavily on food imports, especially vegetables, coming in through the port of Maputo and overland from South Africa. Even the northernmost provinces get their food imports from down south rather than importing it from neighbouring countries. Other imports, too, come in through the port of Maputo. A combination of lower volumes and bureaucracy discourages shipping lines from using ports further north, although the port of Nacala in Nampula province is recently renovated and can handle containers as well as bulk cargo. The government keeps talking about the promise of transporting goods internally by boat along the coast, but maritime transport has still not really taken off, due to high costs.
