Kenya’s first locally-made cargo ship, MV Uhuru II, completed its first-ever trip to Uganda on Friday, September 20, 2024, after being flagged off by Defence and Transport Cabinet Secretaries Soipan Tuya and Davis Chirchir, respectively, the previous day.
The ship with a tonnage capacity of 1,063 docked safely in Jinja with crew and staff from both the Kenya shipyard and Kenya Railways.
“The Kenya shipyard and Kenya Railways staff onboard MV Uhuru II Wagon Ferry arrived safely in Uganda at Jinja Linkspan on Friday at 0400Hrs,” a statement by the Kenya Shipyard on Saturday, September 21, 2024, read.
The ship was built in Kisumu’s Kenya Shipyard branch at Ksh2.4 billion with technical assistance from the Dutch shipmaker, Damen.
MV Uhuru II’s significance
During the handing over of the ship from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to the Kenya Railways, CS Tuya observed that the engineering involved in creating the ship would place Kenya ahead of her peers in matters of shipbuilding.
With a capacity of over 1000 tonnes, the ship is expected to greatly increase the Kisumu port’s throughput of 127,000 tonnes recorded in 2023.
“MV Uhuru II represents the strategic vision of our maritime sector. She is a step towards realising our goals of improving regional connectivity, enhancing trade routes, and positioning ourselves in the East African maritime landscape,” Tuya said on September 19, 2024.
On his part, CS Chirchir said the ship’s development would cement Kenya’s position as a major hub in East African maritime transport.
“MV Uhuru II will not only support Kenya’s development under Vision 2030 but will also strengthen its role in economic integration in East Africa by linking the northern corridor and the southern corridor,” he noted.
Additionally, the Kenya Railways Corporation Managing Director, Philip Mainga, said their projections for the ship in 2025 were that it would make at least three trips every week to Jinja, Port Bell, and Mwanza and improve its tonnage capacity.
The construction of the ship began in 2021 after former President Uhuru Kenyatta established a team to ensure that the 100-metre-long ship was completed to augment the services of the MV Uhuru I in the Lake Victoria waters.
KDF shipbuilders renovated the MV Uhuru I in 2019 after it was built in 1965. The ship recorded a throughput of more than 100,000 tonnes in the year ended 2023.
