The 3.5k GRT, 92.6 meter-long, 17-meter huge, and 20-meter-high vessel has a capability of 1,200 passengers, 400 tons of cargo, 20 small autos, and three vans. It was accomplished by 2 South Korean corporations, Gas Entec and KangNam Corporation, after groundbreaking in 2019 at a value of US$43 million.
After the ultimate touches, the vessel can have a VVIP part for heads of state in addition to common VIP amenities together with a first-class part with a capability for 60 folks, enterprise class for 100 folks, and second class for 200 folks. The financial system class shall have a capability of 834 passengers. The vessel is provided with an elevator, clinic, a disco, and a music band for leisure.
The ship is anticipated to ply Lake Victoria, offering a key transport and commerce community between Jinja and Port Bell in Uganda; Kisumu in Kenya; and Mwanza, Bukoba, Kemondo, and Musoma in Tanzania.
The path blazing “MV Mwanza – Hapa Kazi Tu” which was the imaginative and prescient of Tanzania’s late President, John Pombe Magufuli, is a sport changer for the East African area, plugging into the Standard Gauge Rail (SGR) between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza in addition to throughout the East African area on the whole.
According to The East African weekly gazette, in 2019, the East African Community, at a joint ministerial assembly on technique for Lake Victoria, built-in a transport program, which revealed that Lake Victoria’s transport infrastructure has the potential of producing US$60 billion value of commerce yearly however presently solely realizes round USD$6 billion for the three East African international locations mixed that share Lake Victoria.
Although 3.5k GRT is actually a drop within the ocean in comparison with ocean going cruise liners that tip the scales at as much as 140k GR, for Lake Victoria which in its personal proper at 68,800 sq mm is nearly 3.5 occasions the scale of kingdom states like Eswatini, MV Mwanza-Hapa Kazi Tu has reawakened the potential of marine tourism within the East African hinterland which may be emulated by Uganda and Kenya.
Drawing from the colonial previous, the event of marine transport is just not a brand new phenomenon because it was inextricably linked to the development of the Uganda Railway (extra infamously famend for the man-eating lions of Tsavo) beginning in 1896 earlier than reaching (Port Florence) Kisumu in 1901. Ostensibly, its development was meant to defend British imperial pursuits in Egypt and past.
Early vacationers to sail the hinterland lakes included Italian Prince Luigi Amadeo on the scientific expedition to the Ruwenzori Mountains in 1906, former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Spencer Churchill on his “African Journey in 1907,” former US President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, and Ernest Hemingway, the well-known twentieth century author, within the latter half of the twentieth century.
The new vessel ought to be capable to stimulate curiosity within the sister states pushed by their governments.
They might observe within the footsteps of the aviation sector which witnessed the revival of nationwide carriers within the airline sector together with RwandAir and Air Tanzania, adopted by Uganda Airlines, launched throughout the area of 5 years of one another pushed by their respective presidents.
In the case of Uganda the place a feasibility research was carried out for the revival of the nationwide airline underneath the framework of the National Planning Authority and “Vision 2040” on the directive of the Presidential Economic Council, this led to the profitable revival of Uganda Airlines in 2018.
After Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been invited by his counterpart Tanzanian President, “Mama” Samia Suluhu Hassan, to witness the launch of MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu, he’s sure to be marveled by the VVIP staterooms, and to not be out accomplished, take up the gauntlet for the same vessel for Uganda as he did with the nationwide airline.
With a optimistic consequence of the feasibility for the same Floatel (Floating Hotel), the vessel ought to set sail within the subsequent few years. At a nominal value, corresponding to the price of certainly one of Uganda Airlines’ CRJ 900 Bombardier plane, this needs to be a “fait accompli.”
The feasibility must advocate that the vessel have hybrid-sustainable credentials together with sustainable gas for propulsion, the galley, and launderette, in addition to photo voltaic paneling for lighting of cabins, eating and different public areas, heating, electronics, and waste administration programs.
Businesses would then to feed into the availability chain of the vessel from the meals and drinks division, housekeeping, leisure, engineering, deck crew, and all perks that a median high-end lodge would require, complimented by a well-trained crew, from officers, pursers, servers, and merchandising, etcetera.
In the case of the brand new MV Mwanza, tour operators and journey brokers ought to already place themselves to promote the state rooms (cabins) by way of integrating reserving programs equivalent to travelopro or versionix relying on what the vessel operator shall provide.
To increase the expertise, tour operators needs to be forward of the curve and start to tailor itineraries originating, for instance, from Kilimanjaro Airport to Ngorongoro Crater or Serengeti National Park in Tanzania earlier than transferring to the house port of Mwanza,Tanzania, to board the in a single day cruise to Port Bell in Uganda after which disembarking to a ready floor handler, onward to the mountain gorillas in Bwindi or to “The Source of The Nile” crusing. The Port of Kisumu in Kenya would full the East African cruise circuit, enabling seamless journey to Masai Mara and onward sights.
In anticipation of the brand new vessel’s maiden voyage, Port Bell, Uganda, must rework itself from a shanty port characterised by petty merchants.
The new port would should be a contemporary facility worthy of a world port of entry, such because the Entebbe International Airport, with arrival and departure terminals, a VIP lounge to go with the ship’s VIP staterooms, Duty Free, a restaurant, taxi service, buying, long-term parking lodging, and different spin offs that shall accrue from the refurbishment.
According to Alex Mbonye, CEO of Uganda Shippers Council, the Port Bell quay which is just 85 meters lengthy by 50 meters huge, should be lengthened to accommodate the 96-meter-long vessel. He additionally recommends that the present depth beneath deck shall additionally need to be dredged from 3.5 meters to about 6 meters.
