Regional rail firm launches maritime services on L. Victoria

Rift Valley Railways (RVR), the concessionaire of the Kenya-Uganda railway, said that it has reintroduced its maritime services on Lake Victoria after taking over the MV Kaawa.In a statement issued in Nairobi, RVR said the vessel was withdrawn from service in 2005 after being severely damaged in a collision with her sister vessel the MV Kabalega, resulting in the sinking of the Kabalega.“MV Kaawa will play a strategic role in our operations as it will allow us to carry more volumes and give us the possibility of servicing new and existing clients using the southern corridor through Tanzania,” RVR CEO Brown Ondego said. RVR owns a 25-year concession to operate a century-old rail line with some 2,352 km of track linking the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya with the interiors of both Kenya and Uganda, including the Ugandan capital, Kampala.The MV Kaawa which has the capacity to carry up to 1,232 MT or 22 fully loaded wagons at one go, is in contrast to most vessels currently on the Lake whose capacity is only about 400 MT. RVR said it will also be launching another vessel, the MV Uhuru, within the next two months. MV Uhuru, a Kenyan registered vessel, will complement and support MV Kaawa on the proposed triangular service between Port Bell in Uganda, Mwanza in Tanzania and Kisumu in Kenya.“The two vessels will give RVR the capacity to transport a minimum of 200,000 tonnes a year. This is in line with our strategy to offer door-to-door intermodal transport solutions and help us achieve our business objectives of being able to transport at least 4.5 million tonnes of freight by rail per annum within the next five years,” Ondego said.The MV Kaawa was re-commissioned by Uganda’s minister of works and transport Abraham Byandala at Port Bell in Kampala. The Ugandan government had ordered the grounding of all wagon ferries operating in Uganda pending their full rehabilitation and compliance with maritime regulations after the mishap in 2005.Byandala valued the completed works at about 3.5 million U.S. dollars. “I would like to register my gratitude to the World Bank for financing the East AfricaTrade and facilitation project under which this contract falls,” he said. Ondego noted that the impact of the resumption of Maritime services will be felt well beyond the borders of Uganda and Kenya as the lake supports a vibrant trade in goods manufactured within the five east African countries and beyond including edible oil, timber and multiple FMCG products. “The reintroduction of Kaawa will serve to speed up the business velocity of this trade and provide a vital service to its market of over 60 million people,” Ondego said.