Road Overview

Mozambique’s main economic activity is agriculture, which naturally relies on road transport to access markets at district, provincial and national levels. Being that Mozambique is a vast country, the road network and other surface transport networks (e.g. rail and waterways) play a key role in the social and economic development of the country, and the provision of adequate conditions for the mobility of people and goods.

The surface transport network also provides access to neighbouring countries, and is therefore important for the movement of transit goods through the ports of the country.

In recent years, traffic has been growing considerably, mainly long-distance and heavier traffic, as a consequence of the improvement in the economic situation of the country. The National Administration of Roads (ANE – http://www.ane.gov.mz/) systematically collects data on road traffic. Traffic counts are performed in 256 posts distributed throughout all the provinces of the country.

The road network is just 30,562 km long, of which only about 20% is paved (5,958 km of primary roads) and the remaining 80% of which is non-paved (4,963 km secondary roads; 12,764 km of tertiary roads and 6,876 km of rural roads).

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List

Distance Matrix

Distances from Capital City to Major Towns (km)
	Maputo	Xai-Xai	Inhambane	Beira	Chimoio	Tete	Quelimane	Nampula	Nacala	Lichinga	Pemba
Maputo		221	479	1,216	1,147	1,533	1,622	2,098	2,287	2,464 2,197 (via Malawi)	2,501
Xai-Xai	221		259	996	927	1,313	1,402	1,877	2,067	2,245 1,977 (via Malawi)	2,281
Inhambane	479	259		794	725	1,111	1,200	1,676	1,865	2,043 1,776 (via Malawi)	2,079
Beira	1,216	996	794		203	589	484	959	1,149	1,327 1,253 (via Malawi)	1,363
Chimoio	1,147	927	725	203		387	579	1,054	1,244	1,421 1,051 (via Malawi)	1,458
Tete	1,533	1,313	1,111	589	387		680	1,156	1,345	1,550 667 (via Malawi	1,559
Quelimane	1,622	1,402	1,200	484	579	680		546	735	913	949
Nampula	2,098	1,877	1,676	959	1,054	1,156	546		193	700	407
Nacala	2,287	2,067	1,865	1,149	1,244	1,345	735	193		890	420
Lichinga	2,464 2,197 (via Malawi)	2,245 1,977 (via Malawi)	2,043 1,776 (via Malawi)	1,327 1,253 (via Malawi)	1,421 1,051 (via Malawi)	1,550 667 (via Malawi)	913	700	890		705
Pemba	2,501	2,281	2,079	1,363	1,458	1,559	949	407	420	705

Travel Time from Capital City to Major Towns (hours and minutes)
	Maputo	Xai-Xai	Inhambane	Beira	Chimoio	Tete	Quelimane	Nampula	Nacala	Lichinga	Pemba
Maputo		3’40’’	7’00’’	17’30’’	16’20’’	21’30’’	24’	30’00’’	32’00’’	38’00’’ or 32’00’’(via Malawi)	35’00’’
Xai-Xai	3’40’’		3’30’’	13’50’’	12’40’’	17’50’’	20’40’’	26’0’’	28’00’’	34’00’’ or 28’00’’ (via Malawi)	31’00’’
Inhambane	7’00’’	3’30’’		11’30’’	10’20’’	15’30’’	18’20’’	23’50’’	26’00’’	32’00’’ or 26’00’’ (via Malawi)	29’00’’
Beira	17’30’’	13’50’’	11’30’’		3’30’’	8’40’’	8’30’’	14’00’’	16’20’’	22’00’’ or 19’0’’ (via Malawi)	19’25’’
Chimoio	16’20’’	12’40’’	10’20’’	3’30’’		5’20’’	9’40’’	15’10’’	17’30’’	23’10’’ or 15’50’’ (via Malawi)	20’30’’
Tete	21’30’’	17’50’’	15’30’’	8’40’’	5’20’’		10’30’’	16’00’’	18’20’’	24’00’’ or 11’00’’ (via Malawi)	21’10’’
Quelimane	24’00’’	20’40’’	18’20’’	8’30’’	9’40’’	10’30’’		6’30’’	8’50’’	14’30’’	11’50’’
Nampula	30’00’’	26’00’’	23’50’’	14’00’’	15’10’’	16’00’’	6’30’’		2’30’’	11’20’’	5’30’’
Nacala	32’00’’	28’00’’	26’00’’	16’20’’	17’30’’	18’20’’	8’50’’	2’30’’		13’30’’	5’30’’
Lichinga	38’00’’ or 32’00’’ (via Malawi)	34’00’’ or 28’00’’ (via Malawi)	32’00’’ or 26’00’’ (via Malawi)	22’00’’ or 19’00’’ (via Malawi)	23’10’’ or 15’50’’ (via Malawi)	24’00’’ or 11’00’’ (via Malawi)	14’30’’	11’20’’	13’30’’		11’00’’
Pemba	35’00’’	31’00’’	29’00’’	19’25’’	20’30’’	21’10’’	11’50’’	5’30’’	5’30’’	11’00’’

Road Security

Roads in Mozambique are generally safe.

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits

Axle Load Limits	LCA Country (Mozambique)
Truck with 2 Axles	16 tons
Truck with 3 Axles	22 tons
Truck with 4 Axles	22 tons
Semi-trailer with 3 Axles	26 tons
Semi-trailer with 4 Axles	32 tons
Semi-trailer with 5 Axles	38 tons
Semi-trailer with 6 Axles	38 tons
Truck & Drawbar Trailer with 4 Axles	32 tons
Truck & Drawbar Trailer with 5 Axles	38 tons
Truck & Drawbar Trailer with 6 Axles	38 tons
Truck & Drawbar Trailer with 7 Axles	38 tons