To expand its footprint in Mozambique, Pretoria-based locomotives manufacturer Grindrod Locomotives is developing an additional $10-million locomotive maintenance and repair hub in the port city of Beira, in the Sofala province, to service the fleets of Mozambique’s mining industry.

“Grindrod is committed to investing in this maintenance and repairs services facility and has identified and secured the 40 000 m² site,” says  Grindrod Locomotives Rail Services GM Jannie Bouwer, adding that the facility will be built in three phases, with final completion estimated for the end of 2016.

Further, Operations in Beira GM Lourenco Moiane, has been tasked with implementing the various phases of the project and is excited about the creating the largest rolling stock maintenance hub outside of South Africa.

Phase 1, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, comprises a heavy repair workshop, with the cranage capability to manage heavy repair on locomotives and wagons, as well as bogie changes. This phase will also involve the construction of a mobile rail-wheel cutting facility, additional rail links to improve access to the site, and two service bays comprising about 5 000 m².

Phase 2, will involve the construction of a heavy lifting bay, which will provide Grindrod with a 20 t lifting capability to remove and service locomotive engines. The company will also construct a traverser that will enable locomotives to be moved sideways into the different workshops, washbays and painting stations as well as a large exchange store of refurbished components for service exchange, says Bouwer. The second phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

While Phases 1 and 2 are more orientated towards locomotive services, Phase 3, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2016, will provide the company with full wagon maintenance capability, says Grindrod Locomotives CEO Robert Spoon.

Spoon tells Mining Weekly that a key aim of the facility will be to fully manage the current maintenance activities of all Grindrod customers’ fleets in Beira and eventually manage and even operate all the rolling stock in the region.

“. . . the end goal for 2016. . . would be for the company to. . . maintain and service 100 locomotives and 1 000 wagons,” he says, further highlighting the inevitability of damage repairs and more complex maintenance for existing, new and older equipment and fleets.
However, Bouwer highlights that while the company focuses on the number of locomotives and wagons that can be serviced, its vision also centres on the quality of Grindrod’s services.
Meanwhile, he estimates that demand for mining railway fleet maintenance and rebuild requirements will increase significantly by March 2015 owing to potential expansion projects that will soon be under way.

These projects include the Mozambican state port and rail manager Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique  envisaged expansion of tonnage capability – from six-million tons to 20-million tons – of the Sena railway line, which runs from Tete province to Beira. This could potentially triple locomotive quantities, which impacts on the need for railway fleet maintenance, thereby providing an opportunity for Grindrod to increase revenue at least threefold.
While Grindrod has delivered 35 locomotives to several mining majors in Beira, Spoon notes that mining companies are starting to remove rolling stock from their balance sheets and are approaching Grindrod to lease the locomotives to them and to manage their products being transported from the mine to the Beira port.

“While our company operations include leasing and financing, this new trend is enabling Grindrod to become a rail operator in the region,” Spoon concludes.