Between 1908 and 1914, riverboat services ran from the terminus of the Shire Highlands Railway at Port Herald in Nyasaland, now Malawi to the British concession of Chinde at the mouth of the Zambezi in Mozambique, where passengers and goods were transferred to seagoing ships.

However, as the Shire River was difficult to navigate in the dry season when water levels were low, the British South Africa Company built the Central African Railway, 61 miles long, from Port Herald to Chindio on the north bank of the Zambezi.

[1] Between 1914 and 1922, the African Lakes Corporation and British Central Africa Company both ran steamer services from Chindio to Chinde in the dry season, but from Port Herald to Chinde when water levels were sufficient.

In 1922, the Trans-Zambezia Railway Ltd completed its line from Murraça, on the south bank of the Zambezi opposite Chindio to Beira, and cross-river ferries ran between the Chindio and Murraça.

[2] For two months in the dry season the capacity of the ferry was limited and wet-season floods often washed parts of the railway track away.