MAN Truck & Bus has opened its first dealership in Mozambique.

The R30 million facility in Matola, near Maputo, is equipped with a 1 200 sqm2 workshop, a 400 sqm2 parts department and 600 sqm2 of office space. The workshop comprises three service bays, eight repair bays and a wash bay.

According to MAN, the dealership will support the immensely competitive transport industry in the region and is equipped with modern workshop and parts inventory management systems. These include a computerised oil dispensing system, a five-ton crane and a server which links the Matola parts warehouse to its sister warehouse at the Swaziland dealership.

Mozambique is currently one of Africa’s star economic performers, with an annual GDP growth hovering around seven percent. “Foreign direct investment, particularly in port infrastructure development at harbours including Maputo, Beira, Nacala, Pemba and Quelimane are ramping up the nation’s international logistics capacity,” vouches Thomas Ferreira, head of export after-sales, MAN sub-Equatorial Africa.

“The absence of any significant rail networks from South Africa and other neighbouring countries to Mozambique makes truck transport the predominant logistics provider on the sub-continent and this new dealership, located alongside the N4-Maputo corridor, will become a service and support centre for long-haul trucks running from Gauteng to Maputo and other ports in Mozambique,” he explains.