In his brief to Uganda’s State Minister for Transport Fred Byamukama, MSCL project manager said that they are on last touches to conclude building the body of the ship.
“In October or mid-November the ship will be taken to the slipway for other working activities, and in October next year, the ship will be ready,” he said.
He added: “The MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu is a 1200 passenger ship under construction at Mwanza shipyard. The ship shall be powered by twin engines, each developing 2380 kW.”
“The compliance of the ship to meet International standard has necessitated being equipped with two main generators and one emergence generator,” he observed.
He pointed out that the ship’s design has enforced the marine pollution regulation by having the sewage tank and protected fuel tank with double sides and double bottom.
“MV MWANZA is 92 m long, with a beam (width) of 17m. In addition to over 1000 passengers, the ship shall be freighting 400 tonnes of general cargo, 20 cars and three (3) trucks,” he said.
He noted: “The project started form 03 September 2018, when the contract was signed before President John Pombe Magufuli, with full swing by Jan 2019. The International tendering was publicly announced in early 2018. The South Korean company, GASEntec in collaboration with KANGNAM shipyard, also from South Korea won the tender.”
He underscored that the start of the ship’s project had faced cross road to start due to heavy light weight compared to lifting capacity of an asset present at that time. “The other constraints were inner beam and ability to accommodate the submerged part of the designed ship.”
He insisted: “Thus, the government, through Ministry of Works and Transport had to build a new slipway. The newly constructed slipway carry lift up 4000 metric tonnes, while MV Mwanza weighs 3500 tonnes. The slipway was constructed by Korean Companies, SAEKYUNG in Joint venture with STX engines.”
He stressed that the MV Mwanza shall enhance the Lake Lines of Communication (Trade routes), by minimizing the freight charges per tonnes, hence improving living standards of our people across the Lake in our region (East Africa).
He concluded: “The newly wedded couples in Uganda, are highly invited aboard MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu for their honeymoon, since the ship is purely home, which is away from home, with quite environment. The accommodation onboard shall ensure comfort ability to the passengers.
The safety standard and seaworthiness of the ship has to be known by our brothers and sisters in Uganda. The marine stakeholders in Uganda are warmly invited during the maiden voyage.”
