In 1997 was formed a consortium between state owned Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM) and the Sociedade de Desenvolvimento do Corredor de Nacala (SDCN), composed of American rail operator Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), mining company Edlow Resources, and various Mozambican interests.
The company is structured so CFM controls 49% and SDCN 51%.
It was founded in response to the Mozambican government's request for private operators to take control of the 1970s-built state owned Nacala railway, though negotiations took almost a decade and control was not handed over to SDCN until January 2005, at which time the company began rehabilitation of the west end of the rail line from Cuamba to the Malawi border and port improvements at Nacala.
RDC had in the interim formed Central East African Railways (CEAR) in Malawi, with the goal of operating a single rail line from Mozambique west through Malawi and into Zambia.
In 2008, RDC sold its stake in both CEAR and SDCN.
In 2009, Mozambique received a US$500 million investment from Denmark, the Netherlands, and the European Union to develop coal fields around Moatize in western Mozambique, with the majority of the money earmarked for improving SDCN trackage and constructing a new line through Malawi directly to Mozambican mines.
In late 2010, Brazilian mining conglomerate Vale purchased a 51% stake of SDCN, giving it a majority share of both SDCN and CEAR, which had by then come under SDCN control as well.
In 2012, Vale initiated a new joint venture with CFM, the Nacala Logistics Corridor, to serve the Moatize coal mines—as part of the project, most of Nacala Railway line east of Malawi to Nacala was rebuilt to handle heavy coal traffic.
