“Its strategic, geographical and time zone location and well developed infrastructure is the best in Indian Ocean,” Dr Jyaneshwur Jhurry, senior advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office told a conference in Bangkok.
Port Louis already handles 99% of the total volume of Mauritius’s external trade and is set to become a key nodal point in trade between Asia and Africa.
It has three terminals as well as a fishing port, an oil jetty moving 1.1m tonnes and a cruise jetty.
Terminal one has three quays ranging from 135 metres to 210 metres with matching drafts of nine metres to 12.2 metres. Multi-Purpose Terminal II has four quays of 123 metres, 180 metres and two at 185 metres all with a draft of 12.2 metres.
Terminal III, the Mauritius Container Terminal, manages a throughput of 550,000 teu with five post-panamax quay cranes and eight RTGs. It is dredged to a depth of 14.5 metres with a 450 metre diameter turning basin.
All these, said Mr Jhurry, combine to offer numerous opportunities among them logistics, ship chandelling and repairs, ancillary services, bunkering, fuelling and storage.