Beira is the capital and largest city of Sofala Province located in central region of Mozambique. Beira is situated on the Mozambique Channel (Indian Ocean) at the mouths of the Pungue and Buzi rivers. Beira is the second largest seaport for international cargo transportation to Mozambique after Maputo. Being a coastal city, Beira holds the regionally significant Port of Beira, which acts as a gateway for both the central interior portion of the country as well as the land-locked nations of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. In March 2019, the city was heavily damaged by Cyclone Idai. In terms of storage capacity, the largest storage facilities are located inside the Port areas. These facilities are held by Netherland-based CORNELDER, Beira Grain Terminal (BGT), MANICA Freight Services. WFP can negotiate access to these facilities based on needs surge. There are other major companies that hold commercial storage facilities inside and outside the port areas, such as BOLLORE Logistics, Independent Beira Logistics Terminal Services (IBLT), Export Marketing Co (ETG) and Agility. There are also some individuals who possess good storage facilities that can be rented.

In general, reliable storage facilities exist though sometimes difficult to locate. Some facilities are located in floods prone areas that don’t assure adequate protection of goods during rainy seasons. There are rodents and frequent infestations due to semi-permanent marshes that surround Beira City.

For more information on storage company contact details, please see the following link: 4.6 Storage and Milling Companies Contact List.

Commercial Storage

Here are the major commercial storage facilities that can be relied on in Beira, in case of surge needs.

Storage Used by Humanitarian Organizations

In Beira, the major Agencies that have presence are WFP, UNICEF, UNFPA, FAO, IFRC, and MSF. WFP holds the biggest storage capacity, one warehouse managed directly by WFP and 2 managed by third parties – Bollore and Agility. UNICEF and IFRC have small warehouses managed by their staff. Other agencies have no storage facilities, they occasionally request to share storage with other agencies.

[1] Warehouse Type: Open storage, container, rub-hall, silo, concrete, other, unspecified

[2] Warehouse Access: Raised-siding, flat

[3] Warehouse condition: Appears intact, appears damaged, under construction/repair

Public Sector Storage

Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (INGD) is the leading Government agency that coordinates intervention in case of emergency surge.

[1] Warehouse Type: Open storage, container, rub-hall, silo, concrete, other, unspecified

[2] Warehouse Access: Raised-siding, flat

[3] Warehouse condition: Appears intact, appears damaged, under construction/repair

Cold Chain

UNICEF is currently leading transport and storage of COVID-19 vaccines in Beira.

[1] Cold Room Positive, Cold Room Negative, Refrigerator, Freezer, etc.

[2] Compression, Absorption, Solar, Other, unspecified