Mozambique LNG logistics

10 September 2025

A passenger jet on the apron at Afungi airstrip, 25 July 2025. Satellite image: Planet SkySat.

Key findings

  • The Mozambique LNG project has been suspended under force majeure since 2021, but recent activity at the project site in Afungi, Cabo Delgado suggests that full-scale work is about to restart.

  • A small passenger jet with a capacity of around 50 people has made dozens of trips between Maputo, Pemba and Afungi since 1 May, and is currently leased to an aviation company specialising in oil and gas projects.

  • Other remote sensing data — including satellite imagery of the project site and ADS-B data from ships — shows significant activity in and around Palma Bay.

Passenger flights

Flight tracks for V5-WEN (Embraer ERJ 145) from 1 May to 29 August 2025, showing flights between Maputo, Pemba, and the Afungi airstrip. Source: ADS-B Exchange.

On 1 May 2025, an Embraer ERJ 145 passenger jet with the registration V5-WEN flew from the Mozambican capital, Maputo, to the port of Pemba. Less than an hour later, the jet — which carries about 50 people at a time — took off and headed north towards the Afungi airstrip.

While the available location data doesn’t show the plane landing, its course, altitude and subsequent movements make clear that it landed at Afungi. The lack of data at the project site may be due to limited coverage of remote areas by the ADS-B Exchange project, or to deliberate disabling of the plane’s ADS-B transponder.

Since 1 May, the same aircraft appears to have made dozens of flights between Maputo, Pemba and Afungi, most recently on 29 August. V5-WEN is owned by Fly Namibia and ordinarily operated by Westair Aviation, but was leased to a different company, Everett Aviation, in April 2025, suggesting that it may have been chartered specifically for Mozambique LNG project logistics.

According to Everett’s website, the company provides “safe and solution oriented fixed & rotary wing aviation services, serving international clients from the energy sector and other government & commercial organizations with specialist aviation needs.”

In addition to the trips by V5-WEN, another jet is visible in high-resolution satellite imagery at Afungi airstrip on 25 July 2025 at 11:25 UTC (see image above). While its size and appearance roughly match that of the V5-WEN, its presence at this date and time does not match the flight records.

Construction work

A comparison of Planet SkySat satellite imagery from 27 April 2025 and 24 August 2025, showing significant construction work at the Mozambique LNG project site.

Major construction work now appears to be underway at the project site. Comparing recent satellite imagery to comparable imagery from April reveals a specific area that has seen the most significant work, including construction of buildings.

Vessel activity

Uptick in vessel activity at the Mozambique LNG project site in August 2025. Source:

AIS data aggregated by the Global Fishing Watch project shows an increase in vessel activity in Palma Bay from mid-August. Vessels involved — visible via the GFW web interface — include the Gombessa (IMO 8733897, a passenger vessel) and the Topaz Tobol (IMO 9812224, a heavy load carrier).