Mpungu OSK Design
Ro-Ro

Ugandan operator's newest Ro-Ro enters service on Lake Victoria

Baird Maritime

Uganda operator East Africa Marine Transport (EAMT) has placed a new Ro-Ro vessel into operational service.

Mpungu will be operated in Lake Victoria, transporting freight on a scheduled service between Port Bell in Uganda and Mwanza in Tanzania. It can transport up to 1,000 tonnes of containerised cargo or the equivalent of 21 trailers.

South Africa-based logistics company Grindrod will operate the vessel on behalf of EAMT on the Port Bell-Mwanza route at a rate of two or three round trips per week. Each one-way journey lasts between 17 and 18 hours, whereas travelling by road between the two destinations could take three or four days.

The vessel will allow trucks to avoid circumnavigating Lake Victoria and concentrate on efficiently transporting goods between lake ports and their customers, thus helping reduce road congestion that could otherwise hamper trade in the region.

Mpungu was built by SECO Marine of Uganda. It was designed in compliance with Bureau Veritas class rules by Kenya-based Southern Engineering Company (SECO), SECO Marine's parent company, with support from Danish naval architecture firm OSK Design.