Tanzania: After acquiring an electronic train, Tanzania has now launched the largest ferry in East Africa known as ‘MV MWANZA’. The cruise ship is a Ro-Pax ferry and has been operated on Lake Victoria.
Reportedly, the ferry has set to run between the villages of Kigongo and Busisi, through south of Mwanza town, across the Mwanza Gulf in an east-west direction. The cruise ship costed US $49.9 million to build it.
MV MWANZA cruise ship is 92.6 meters long and has boarded 1,200 people in it. Along with the passengers the ship has also carried 20 vehicles and 400 tonnes of cargo in it.
Considering the launch of the ferry, the government of the Republic of Tanzania said that MV MWANZA is the biggest cruise in the Great Lakes, covering the regions of Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa.
The cruise ship is expected to improve the transport between the East African countries that share Lake Victoria.
Notably, the ferries of Lake Victoria have been continuously carrying rail wagons and vehicles from Uganda to Tanzania for eighty years.
The ferries are jointly run by the railway companies of Tanzania and Uganda as they are the main and very important means of transport between the two nations.
The ship is also a medium of transportation between northern Tanzania and southwestern Kenya, consisting of other ferry services links such as the Zanzibar archipelago and Tanzanian ports.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Transport of Tanzania – Gabriel Migire spoke at the event to land the cruise ship ashore and said that the purpose of building the ship MV MWANZA was a combined initiative to help and improve the trading between the regions and lakes that are surrounded at the border.
The official spokesperson Gerson Msigwa also marked his statements and said that the cruise ship is expected to last till coming 50 years. He also shared a post related to it on his ‘X’ account (formerly known as twitter).
Rasmi MV Mwanza “Hapa Kazi Tu” yawekwa majini katika Ziwa Victoria.
Meli hii kubwa ina uweza wa kubeba abiria 1,200 na tani 400 za mzigo. Ujenzi wa meli hii umefikia 80%. Itadumu kwa miaka 50.#KaziIendelee pic.twitter.com/3I966cM0Ny
— Gerson Msigwa (@MsigwaGerson) February 12, 2023
The cruise ship sailed between Bukoba and Mwanza and later it will be ferrying the guests and goods to the neighbouring nations of Uganda at Port Bell and Jinja in Kenya to dock at the Kisumu Port.
As per the sources, constructing the vessel ship is a part of the governmental efforts to transform marine transport under the National 5-year Development Plan for the considerable years 2012-22 to 2025-26.
The government has released the plan as it envisioned expanding the basic economic infrastructure and networks of marine, surface and air transport, including water and power.