MV ''Mwongozo'' is a mixed passenger and cargo

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

operated by the

Marine Services Company Limited Marine Services Company Limited (MSCL) is a Tanzanian company that operates ferries, cargo ships and tankers on three of the African Great Lakes, namely Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa. It provides services to neighbouring Buru ...

. She can carry up to 800 passengers and 80 tons of cargo. Her accommodation includes open sleeping areas, individual cabins and a passenger dining saloon. She can take cars and small trucks on her forward deck. ''Mwongozo'' normally plies a daily route between Kigoma and

Bujumbura Bujumbura (; ), formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's normal capital. In late ...

. The journey takes about 14 hours. MSC's other Lake Tanganyika ferry, , operates the route to Zambia.

History

''Mwongozo'' was built by a Finnish company for the

Tanzania Railways Corporation The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) is a state-owned enterprise that runs one of Tanzania's two main railway networks. When the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation was dissolved in 1977 and its assets divided between Kenya, Tan ...

. Her original route was a weekly return route from

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

Mpulungu Mpulungu is a town in the Northern Province of Zambia, at the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika.Camerapix: "Spectrum Guide to Zambia." Camerapix International Publishing, Nairobi, 1996. From Mpulungu, boats reach DR Congo, Tanzania and Burundi. Th ...

, Zambia, calling at Kigoma, Tanzania and various small settlements along the Tanzanian coast of the lake. In 1997 the UNHCR used ''Mwongozo'' and ''Liemba'' to transport more than 75,000 refugees, who had fled Zaire during the

First Congo War The First Congo War, group=lower-alpha (1996–1997), also nicknamed Africa's First World War, was a civil war and international military conflict which took place mostly in Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo), with major spillo ...

, back to their homeland following the overthrow of longtime dictator

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

. Also in 1997, TRC's inland shipping division became a separate company, the Marine Services Company Ltd. Regional instabilities during the early 2000s lead to an increase of piracy on Lake Tanganyika. In 2001 and 2002 ''Mwongozo'' was attacked twice by pirates resulting in thousands of dollars of loss to passengers and substantial damage to the hull, requiring extensive repairs. Service between Kigoma and Bujumbura was suspended for a year after the second attack.

References

1979 ships Ships built in Tanzania Passenger ships of Tanzania Ferries of Tanzania Lake Tanganyika {{Tanzania-stub

History

See also

References