In a major milestone in Africa’s inland shipping, Tanzania has launched the largest ship ever to ply the waters of Lake Victoria or any African inland waterway. On Jan. 23, Tanzanian Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba led the ceremony that put into service the passenger-vehicle ferry MV New Mwanza. With a length of 92.6 meters and a dead weight of 3,500 tonnes, it is almost three times larger than the next-largest vessel. With four decks, it is capable of carrying 1,200 passengers, 20 vehicles and 400 tonnes of cargo. With a speed of 16 knots (approximately 30 km/h), it will significantly reduce crossing times between the Tanzanian port of Bukoba and other Tanzanian ports, as well as the Kenyan port of Kisumu, and the Ugandan ports of Port Bell and Jinja.
Built at the Tashico shipyard in cooperation with Korean contractors Gas Entec Ship-Building Engineering and Kang Nam Corporation, in collaboration with Suma JKT, the ship cost some 47 million dollars.
The ship is part of Tanzania’s strategy to develop an integrated transport and logistics network that connects with the Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), which currently begins at the Dar es Salaam on the coast and will soon be completed with a rail head on Lake Victoria. Kenya’s SGR will also terminate at the Lake and Uganda has recently launched its own SGR.
