BEIRA, a seaport of Portuguese East Africa, at the mouth of the Pungwe and Busi rivers, 19° 50' S., 34° 50' E., 528 m. N. of Lourenco Marques, in communication by railway with Cape Town (2037 m.) via Umtali, Salisbury (374 m.) and Buluwayo m.). On Dec. 31, 1926, the population included 2,167 whites. Beira is the chief port for Rhodesia and Katanga, communication being made by the Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesian Rail way (212 m.) under concession from the Mozambique Company. In 1922 the completion of a railway to the Zambezi made Beira the port for Nyasaland. The port is being increasingly used for transhipment of cargo for the smaller coast ports. In addition to the very important transit trade to Rhodesia, Katanga and Nyasa land, Beira also handles an increasing volume of traffic for the Mozambique Company's territories (see article on PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA), of which it is the capital.
The town is built on a tongue of sand extending into the river, and is comparatively healthy. The average annual rainfall is 37 in., and the average annual temperature 75.58°. It is increasingly Popular as a holiday resort for Rhodesians. The town is connected with the purt by light railway lines. There are good golf links just outside the town. There is a lighthouse at the river mouth, with a 16 m. radius, and the channel leading to the port is well buoyed and lighted. Vessels drawing 28 ft. of water can enter the port at high tide. There is good anchorage (the bottom is of soft mud, but safe in fine weather) in 5 fathoms (18-27 ft. at lowest tides), 135 yd. from the shore. The maximum depth in the harbour is 32 ft., minimum 12 ft. The depth at the customs wharf varies from 20 ft. to nil. On the bar, and in Rambler Channel, there is 12 ft. at lowest spring tides and 18 ft. at low tide (neap). The sea front is protected by a masonry wall. Ships are loaded and unloaded from anchorage by lighters towed by small steam-boats; and there is adequate wharf accommodation for large lighters. There are io-ton cranes on the customs wharf, and 2o-ton cranes on the railway wharf. It is possible to handle tons daily per steamer. There is an excellent stone and cement passenger pier. Between the customs house and the railway terminus is the mouth of a small river, the Chiveve, crossed by a steel bridge, the centre span revolving and giving two passages each of 4o ft. The Chiveve embankment scheme reclaimed 8o,000 square metres of land.
The Mozambique Company administers the Beira district under a charter granted in 1891 for a term of 5o years, renewable on its expiration in 1941. There is a considerable business community, largely British. Of the three banks, two are British. The town has a wireless station, and is in telegraphic communication with Salisbury in Mashonaland. Beira occupies the site of a forgotten Arab settlement. The present port owes its being to a clause in the Anglo-Portuguese agreement of 1891 providing for the con struction of a railway between Rhodesia and the navigable waters of the Pungwe. (The Pungwe is navigable for small steamers for 40 m., and the Busi for 25 m. Both rivers are subject to serious floods which cause damage to the railway lines to Rhodesia and Nyasaland.) The railway at first began at Fontesvilla, about so m. by river above Beira, but was subsequently brought down to that port. The completion in 1902 of the line connecting Salisbury with Cape Town adversely affected the port, the long railway route from the Cape being increasingly employed by travellers to and from Mashonaland. Moreover, the high freights on goods by the Beira route enabled Port Elizabeth to compete successfully for Rhodesian trade. In Oct. 1905 a considerable reduction was made in railway rates and in port dues and customs, with the object of re-attracting to the port the transit trade of the interior; and in 1907 a branch of the Rhodesian customs was opened in the town, following the precedent of Lourenco Marques. These steps were successful. The principal exports are maize, rubber, cotton, sugar, ground-nuts and oil-seeds, beeswax, chromite (from Rhodesia), and gold (from Manica). The imports are chiefly rice (from India), cotton goods for local use, and food stuffs, machinery, hardware and manufactured goods for Rhodesia. Direct steam ship communication with Europe is maintained by British, Portu guese and German ships, the former constituting by far the greater part of the tonnage using the port.
Shipping returns for the last two years are :— See PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA ; also the reports issued yearly by the British Foreign Office on the trade of Beira.