Lake Victoria ferries are motor ships (earlier examples were

steamboats A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

) for

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 ...

services carrying freight and/or vehicles and/or passengers between

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

. Operating ferries on Lake Victoria are mostly

Ro-Pax Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ferries for the simultaneous transport of passengers, vehicles and goods. Some other ferries are dedicated

train ferries A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

Ro-Ro Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...

ferries and cargo ships, as well as

catamarans A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

for passenger transport. For most of the 20th century, Lake Victoria ferries were international ferries operating clockwise or counterclockwise around Lake Victoria. In the 21st century, ferries are mostly operating domestically within the borders of Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania and between mainland ports and Lake Victoria islands.

Ports and port infrastructure

The main

ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

on the lake are in

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Kenya by population, third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victor ...

in Kenya;

Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,182,000 in 2021, it is Tanzania's second largest cit ...

Musoma Musoma is a city in the east shore of lake Victoria of Tanzania. It is the capital of Mara Region, one of the administrative Regions of Tanzania. It also serves as the administrative centre of Musoma Rural District and Musoma Urban District. L ...

Bukoba Bukoba is a city with a population of 128,796 (2012 census), situated in the north west of Tanzania on the south western shores of Lake Victoria. It is the capital of the Kagera region, and the administrative seat for Bukoba Urban District. T ...

in Tanzania;

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. The c ...

Port Bell A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

and Jinja in Uganda. Many smaller Lake Victoria ports are also in use, the number of ports served by ferries in Tanzania alone reaches 30. The four ports of Kisumu, Port Bell, Musoma and Mwanza allow dedicated

to dock at railway ferry

wharves A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

with

jetties A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

for direct rail track access to the ferries. The

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...

for the transported

railway wagons A railroad car, railcar ( American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

is . In 2018, two of the railway wharves, at Port Bell and Mwanza, were in use. The train ferries connect the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the lin ...

at Port Bell with the Tanzanian Central Line at Mwanza. The Central Line is linked to the Tanzanian

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

port of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

to transport freight to and from world markets. The rail jetties at Kisumu and Musoma connect to railyards in the port areas, but these are rarely used as there are no operational railways in their

hinterlands Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

. Typical journey times were 13 hours between Port Bell and Kisumu, and 19 hours between Port Bell and Mwanza. The most important Lake Victoria port is Mwanza not only because of the port infrastructure, rail and road access to the Indian Ocean but also because of major facilities for ferry operation, service and construction. Dedicated

dry docks A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

for ferry repairs exist in or near Mwanza, Kisumu and Port Bell, but only those in Mwanza are consistently used. Much industry in the region has moved to Mwanza.

Ferries

The first ferry on Lake Victoria started operation in 1900 during the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonial era, from the port of Kisumu. The original steamboats were later replaced by motor ships, some of which still operate on the lake. Almost all ferries (trains, cargo, passenger) in operation at the end of the 20th century were decades old. In 2018, most of them were still in operation. Newer 21st century-built ferries made up the majority of all ferries on Lake Victoria as of 2018. The number of ferries known to be in commercial operation in 2018 was about thirty in Tanzania, five in Uganda, and six in Kenya. The largest ferries for the transport of cargo on Lake Victoria are the train ferries , , and engaged in international services between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Each of them is able to transport 1180 tonnes of goods or 22 long rail waggons in four lanes (four tracks). In 2018, ''Umoja'' and ''Kaawa'' were in use between Port Bell and Mwanza, but the two ferries ''Pemba'' and ''Uhuru'' were suspended. The largest passenger ship on Lake Victoria is MV ''Victoria'', which can transport up to 1200 passengers. These five vessels are between 30-60 years old and state-owned. New Ro-Pax and Ro-Ro multipurpose ferries have continued to come into operation in recent years, built and assembled in Mwanza in Tanzania. These ferries have increased in size and capacity over the years, with the newest additions coming close to the older large train ferries. Two new Tanzanian state-owned Ro-Pax ferries, ''Misungwi'' (2016) and ''Mwanza'' (2018), can each transport up to 1000 passengers including up to 36 cars or up to 250 tonnes of cargo. The largest privately-owned ferry on Lake Victoria is a new Tanzanian Ro-Pax ferry from 2016, the ''Nyehunge II'' with a transport capacity of 284 tonnes of goods or 40 cars and 500 passengers. Apart from the motor vessels listed below, two steam ships more than 100 years old are reported to be still present on Lake Victoria in 2018, both in private hands: and , though ''Nyanza'' is suspended from operation in 2018. The 20th century ferries have almost entirely been designed and built outside Africa, mostly in the UK and Germany but were assembled at Lake Victoria from pre-assembled parts. Most of the ferries delivered to several operators around Lake Victoria in the 21st century however have been designed and built in Tanzania through construction firms with

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

s and floating

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

s located at Mwanza port. Most new ro-ro ferries on Lake Victoria have been built by local ''Songoro Marine Transport Ltd'', a company with construction services in Mwanza. Outside Mwanza, a new Kenyan company based in Kisumu, ''Globology Ltd'', is planning to build and to operate up to 15 passenger-only

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

passenger ferries until 2020.

Ferry history

Uganda Railway steamers

The original ships serving the

were built in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

as "knock down" ships; that is, they were bolted together, all the parts marked with numbers, disassembled into thousands of parts, transported in kit form by sea to

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

and by railway to Kisumu and reassembled. was built for the

Imperial British East Africa Company The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) was a commercial association founded to develop African trade in the areas controlled by the British Empire. The company was incorporated in London on 18 April 1888 and granted a royal charter by Q ...

in 1890 by

Bow, McLachlan and Company Bow, McLachlan and Company was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1872 and 1932. History 1872–1914 In 1872 William Bow and John McLachlan founded the company at Abbotsinch, Renfrewshire, where it made s ...

at Paisley in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

but not launched at Kisumu until 1900. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she was armed as a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

. In 1929, she was withdrawn from service, taken into deep water and

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

. The

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s SS ''Winifred'' and SS ''Sybil'' were built by Bow, McLachlan & Co in 1901. ''Winifred'' was launched on the lake in 1902 followed by ''Sybil'' in 1903. In the First World War East African Campaign, they were armed as gunboats. In 1914, ''Sybil'' was beached after striking a rock but she was refloated in 1915 and refitted and returned to service in 1916. In 1924, ''Sybil'' was converted into a

lighter A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or c ...

. ''Winifred'' was purposely sunk in 1936 to form a breakwater off Luamba Island. Her remains were scrapped in 1954. In the 1950s, ''Sybil'' sank at her moorings but she was raised, restored as a passenger and cargo vessel, and in 1956 re-entered service. In 1967, ''Sybil'' was purposely sunk at Kisumu to form a breakwater. was built by Bow, McLachlan & Co in 1905. She served on the lake from 1907 to 1935. In 1936 she was purposely sunk at Bukakata to form a breakwater. SS ''Nyanza'' is a cargo steamer built by Bow, McLachlan & Co in 1907. She was reported to be laid up as of 2007. is a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

built by Bow, McLachlan & Co in 1912 and launched at Kisumu in 1913. During the First World War, she served as a gunboat. In about 1984, she was laid up at Kisumu and later was used as an accommodation vessel. She later sank alongside, but in 2005 was raised. Her purchasers intended to lengthen and re-engine her for use as a tanker. The sister ships and were built by Bow, McLachlan & Co in 1913 and launched on the lake in 1914 and 1915, respectively. They were

troop ship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

s during the First World War East African Campaign and passed into civilian service after the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

. EAR&H withdrew ''Rusinga'' for scrap in 1966, but she passed into private ownership and in 2005 was still in service. ''Usoga'' was laid up in 1975, sank at her moorings at Kisumu in the 1990s, and as of 2006 her remains were still there. and were steamers built by Bow, McLachlan & Co in 1925. In the 1980s, ''Buvuma'' was laid up and sank at her jetty. ''Buganda'' later became additional accommodation at the Mwanza's Hotel Tilapia, where she remains.

East African Railways and Harbours motor vessels

RMS ''Victoria'' was built in 1959 by

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...

at Scotstoun and reassembled for the

East African Railways and Harbours Corporation The East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) is a defunct company that operated railways and harbours in East Africa from 1948 to 1977. It was formed in 1948 for the new East African High Commission by merging the Kenya and Ugand ...

(EAR&H) ship at Kisumu in 1961. When the ship was commissioned,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

granted her the "

Royal Mail Ship Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. The designation dates back to 1840. Any vessel de ...

" designation: the only EAR&H ship to receive this distinction. However, since Kenya's independence from the UK, she has operated as MV ''Victoria''. The

and are

s built by Yarrow in 1965. Kenya operated ''Uhuru'', but she has been suspended from service since 2007. By 1970, the

operated regular sailings clockwise around the lake from Kisumu, using rail ferries that carried rail wagons loaded directly from rail tracks extended on the jetties at Kisumu, Port Bell and Mwanza. The rail network linked to the

ports of

and

which allowed countries of the African interior such as Uganda and

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

to transport freight to and from world markets. Typical journey times were 13 hours between Port Bell in Uganda and Kisumu in Kenya, and 19 hours between Port Bell and Mwanza in Tanzania. In 1977 EARH was dissolved and its assets divided between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. ''Uhuru'' was transferred to the new

Kenya Railways Corporation Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), also Kenya Railways (KR) is the national railway of Kenya. Established in 1977, KR is a state corporation. History The original Uganda Railway was transformed into the East African Railways and Harbours Corp ...

(KRC) and ''Umoja'' and ''Victoria'' to the new

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 ...

(TRC). In 1978, the new

Uganda Railways Corporation The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) is the parastatal railway of Uganda. It was formed after the breakup of the East African Railways Corporation (EARC) in 1977 when it took over the Ugandan part of the East African railways. URC's system ...

(URC) purchased three train ferries from Belgium, MV ''Pemba'', MV ''Kaawa'' and MV ''Kabalega''. However their production was interrupted by the war between Uganda and Tanzania that broke out in October 1978 and ended in April 1979. The ferries were assembled after the war at Port Bell and launched in 1983. TRC's Marine Division introduced the ferry in about 1979 and the passenger and

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

in 1988. In 1997, the Marine Division of TRC became a separate company, the Marine Services Company Limited, whose fleet includes ''Serengeti'', ''Umoja'', and ''Victoria''.

21st century vessels and operations

Early in the 21st century, new Lake Victoria ro-ro ferries were constructed at Mwanza port in Tanzania, in particular through the family-owned and local ''Songoro Marine Transport Ltd'' in Tanzania. This added some dynamics to the ferry services sector on Lake Victoria and allowed several private companies to own and/or to operate new ferries, for example the Nyehunge ferries by Mohammed Seif, the owner of ''Nyehunge IT Support Ltd''. In 2005, Tanzania founded a new state-owned enterprise, Tanzania Electrical, Mechanical and Electronics Services Agency (TEMESA), which received more than a dozen new and locally built and state-owned ro-ro ferries on Lake Victoria to operate them. Also in 2005, the private

Rift Valley Railways Consortium Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya and Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2005. The Kenya-Uganda railway had previously b ...

(RVR) was selected by the two parastatal railway corporations in Kenya (KRC) and Uganda (URC) to operate their joint railway network from 2006 on. RVR also took over the three remaining Lake Victoria train ferries of Uganda and Kenya (''Kabalega'' sank in 2005), ''Pemba'', ''Uhuru'' and ''Kaawa''. RVR suspended ''Pemba'' and ''Kaawa'' from service indefinitely and also stopped ''Uhuru'' from all operations in 2007 after the railway branch line of the Uganda Railway between Kisumu and

Nakuru Nakuru is a city in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitant ...

dropped out of operations due to an aging railway infrastructure. The Lake Victoria railheads in Port Bell, Jinja and Kisumu, then also operated by RVR, went out of operation. The remaining Tanzanian train ferry, MV ''Umoja'' could only serve Tanzanian rail jetties and became almost suspended as well and was used for special purposes only. Except from the Tanzanian ferry business, which started to flourish due to the new ferries built and put into operation, the Ugandan and Kenyan ferry business on Lake Victoria appeared to be dilapidated. In May 2008, the ''

Daily Monitor The ''Daily Monitor'' is a Ugandan independent daily newspaper. Its name is shared by the ''Saturday Monitor'' and ''Sunday Monitor'', which are also published by Monitor Publications Limited. ''Daily Monitor'' averaged a daily circulation of 24,2 ...

'' stated that it expected the Ugandan government to announce in that year's budget speech a government allocation of USh 14 billion to buy a new train ferry to replace ''Kabalega''. However, in September 2009, the Uganda Radio Network said the Ugandan government was unlikely to replace ''Kabalega'' soon. Instead, the Minister of Works proposed to improve port facilities at Jinja and Port Bell and let private operators run railway

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a tugb ...

s with greater capacity than the ferries. The minister stated that ''Kaawa'' and ''Pemba'' would be reconditioned and returned to service and that private businesses had expressed an interest in raising ''Kabalega'' and restoring her to use as a private concession. In October 2009, the Ugandan government reiterated that it would recondition the ''Pemba'' and ''Kaawa'' and return them to service in 2010 and 2011 respectively. However, except words, no activities followed the announcements. In 2010, new international passenger ferry services based on

s were to be launched. A US based company, Earthwise Ventures, announced that it would bring a fleet of fast ferries to Lake Victoria to connect major ports on the lake. Later on, the private Earthwise Ferries Ltd with branches in Tanzania and Uganda started to operate the first catamaran passenger ferry on Lake Victoria in 2012, the MV ''Amani'' at Port Bell in Uganda, followed by a sister ship in 2018, the ''Bluebird'' at Mwanza port in Tanzania. Also in 2010, a Scottish investor, Malcolm Ormiston, founded ''Globology Ltd'' in Kisumu, Kenya to build and to operate smaller catamaran passenger ferries to operate on Lake Victoria in Kenya and in Uganda under the brand name ''Waterbus East Africa''. A first small and locally built catamaran, ''Captain Dan'' went into operation in 2010. In 2017, Globology intended to start to build 3-5 catamaran passenger ferries per year each with a capacity to transport 120 passengers. As of April 2013, only Tanzania Railways' Central Line was operating freight rail services from Mwanza to

Tabora Tabora is the capital of Tanzania's Tabora Region and is classified as a municipality by the Tanzanian government. It is also the administrative seat of Tabora Urban District. According to the 2012 census, the district had a population of 226,999. ...

Dodoma Dodoma ( in Gogo), officially Dodoma City, is the national capital of Tanzania and the capital of the Dodoma Region, with a population of 410,956. In 1974, the Tanzanian government announced that the capital would be moved to Dodoma for social a ...

and Dar es Salaam and therefore connecting the Lake Victoria freight services with the world market. In 2017, the contract with RVR was cancelled in both Kenya and Uganda due to financial irregularities, both KRC and URC restarted the operations on their respective railway networks. URC also restarted the services at the railhead in Port Bell, the train ferry ''Kaawa'' was repaired and refurbished and put back into operation. In a similar manner, the train ferry ''Umoja'' on the Tanzanian side was repaired and refurbished. In June 2018, the

EastAfrican ''The EastAfrican'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kenya by the Nation Media Group, which also publishes Kenya's national '' Daily Nation''. The ''EastAfrican'' is circulated in Kenya and the other countries of the African Great Lakes T ...

reported that 1180-tonne ''Umoja'' began regular service again between Mwanza and Port Bell, plying the route 26 times every month. It is also expected that ''Kaawa'', registered in Uganda, will join ''Umoja'' on the route. The

to Kampala route costs US$65 per tonne, compared to US$90 per tonne on the

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

route, as of June 2018.

The Citizen (Tanzania) Mwananchi Communications Ltd is a company based in Tanzania. Mwananchi Communications Ltd, engages in the print media and digital media, and is the publisher of Tanzania's leading daily newspaper, '' Mwananchi'' (in Swahili), and others such as ...

, reported similar information.

Incidents and accidents

* On 21 May 1996, sank off

. She was carrying many more passengers than the 430 passengers she was certificated for, and 894 people were killed. * In the early hours of 8 May 2005, ''Kabalega'' and ''Kaawa'' collided almost head-on. ''Kaawa'' damaged her bow and ''Kabalega'' suffered damage to her bow and flooding in two of her

buoyancy tank A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water, which is used as ballast to provide hydrostatic stability for a vessel, to reduce or control buoyancy, as in a submarine, to correct trim or li ...

s. ''Kaawa'' managed to return to port, but a few hours after the collision, ''Kabalega'' sank about southeast of the

Ssese Islands The Ssese Islands are an archipelago of eighty-four islands in the northwestern part of Lake Victoria in Uganda. The islands are coterminous with the Kalangala District in southern Central Uganda, which does not have any territory on mainland Uga ...

. After the collision MV ''Pemba'' was also suspended from service. * On 28 April 2006, capsized. She was a cargo and passenger ferry owned by the Dynamic Cotton Ginnery of Mwanza in Tanzania. She was carrying more than forty passengers, 28 of whom were feared dead. * In February 2013, fire broke out on the MV ''Victoria'' whilst docked at Mwanza Port. It is believed that it was due to the

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Welding is distinct from lower ...

works going on in one of the lower deck rooms and sparks of fire then passed on to the adjacent storage compartment. The situation was under control within two hours. The Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) blamed the management for professional negligence. * On 10 October 2014, MV ''Victoria'' experienced an engine failure midway on its journey from Bukoba to Mwanza. * On 20 September 2018, at least 228 people died when the overloaded

motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

ferry MV ''Nyerere'', carrying "close to 270 passengers", capsized on Lake Victoria between

Ukerewe Island Ukerewe is the fifth-largest lake island in the world. With an area of , it is also the largest island in Lake Victoria and the largest lake island in Africa. Ukerewe Island is located in the Ukerewe District of Mwanza Region in the great la ...

and

Ukara Island Ukara is an island in Lake Victoria. Part of Tanzania, it is located 10 km north of Ukerewe Island, in the Ukerewe District, Mwanza Region. Also known as Bukara. The island is notable for its unique indigenous system of labor-intensive mix ...

, from the pier on Ukara Island. About 41 people were rescued, with 32 sustaining critical injuries.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Malcolm McCrow's EAR&H history site

Kamanga Ferry - Lake Victoria Ferries
Ferries of Uganda Ferries of Kenya

Ferries 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 tax ...

Ferries of Tanzania