Porto Grande, Cape Verde

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Porto Grande is Mindelo's and São Vicente's main port located in the west of the city and northwest of the island overlooking the Mindelo Bay. The port is authorized by ENACOR and is located about 1 km from the city centre. The port functions as a centre of cargo trading for other islands and rarely other parts of the world, most of the foreign ships are imports from North America, Latin America, Brazil and Europe. The length is 340 m from southeast to northwest and 11.5 m from southwest to northeast.

[edit] Use

The port was the main station that was used as a refueling station for foreign cargo ships and 500 ships used for coal refueling, the number rose to 2,000 in the mid-19th century, in 1956, the coal service went to an end as ships switched to diesel fuel. It was later to be used as a military and local, trading and shipping services, primarily imports.

[edit] Expansions

The port has undergone a few series of expansions including one in the mid-20th century, the last expansion happened in the end of 1997 as part of the "Projecto de Modernização do Porto Grande" or the Porto Grande Modernization Project, the port added 1,750 m of shiploads. The expansion has enlarged the port's area to 45,000 m² or 4.5 ha as well as 0.045 km² and it features a shipping station, a passenger termainal and more modern improvements, it also features an installed frigate.