MV Umoja

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NameMV Umoja
Port of registry Kisumu
Routeon Lake Victoria between Jinja, Mwanza, Musoma & Kisumu [1]
Builder Yarrow Shipbuilders [1]
Yard number2242 [1]
Launched1965 [1]
In service1966 [2]
FateTransferred to Tanzania
History
Flag of Tanzania.svg Tanzania
NameMV Umoja
Operator Marine Services Company Limited
Port of registry Mwanza
Acquired1977
Statusin service
General characteristics
Type train ferry [1]
Tonnage
Length91.75 m (301 ft) [3]
Beam16.5 m (54.1 ft) [3]
Draught3.96 m (13 ft) [3]
Installed power1,480 hp (1,100 kW) V-8 [2] diesel [1]
Propulsionscrew [1]

MV Umoja is a Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa. She is a train ferry that Marine Services Company Limited of Mwanza, Tanzania [3] operates between Jinja, Mwanza, Musoma and Kisumu. [1] Umoja means "unity" in Swahili. She has been involved in several accidents and is featured in a book by Paul Theroux.

History

Umoja and her sister ship MV Uhuru were built in 1965 by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Scotstoun, Glasgow, Scotland, [1] [4] and entered service in 1966. [2] At over 300 ft (91 m), they were the longest vessels on any of the East African lakes. [2]

The two vessels were owned and operated by the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EARH) until 1977, when EARH was divided between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Uhuru was transferred to the new Kenya Railways Corporation [1] and Umoja was transferred to the new Tanzania Railways Corporation. [4]

Umoja struck rocks in 1990, 1996, and 2002.[ citation needed ] The 2002 accident caused $160,000 worth of damage.[ citation needed ]

In 1997 TRC's inland shipping division became a separate company, the Marine Services Company Ltd. [5]

In his book Dark Star Safari, Paul Theroux gives an account of a journey on Lake Victoria aboard Umoja, detailing the hazards from out-of-date charts and emphasising the friendliness and competence of the crew. [6]

Related Research Articles

Transport in Tanzania includes road, rail, air and maritime networks. The road network is 86,472 kilometres (53,731 mi) long, of which 12,786 kilometres (7,945 mi) is classified as trunk road and 21,105 kilometres (13,114 mi) as regional road. The rail network consists of 3,682 kilometres (2,288 mi) of track. Commuter rail service is in Dar es Salaam only. There are 28 airports, with Julius Nyerere International being the largest and the busiest. Ferries connect Mainland Tanzania with the islands of Zanzibar. Several other ferries are active on the countries' rivers and lakes.

Lake Victoria ferries

Lake Victoria ferries are motor ships for ferry services carrying freight and/or vehicles and/or passengers between Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya on Lake Victoria.

Yarrow Shipbuilders Former shipbuilding firm based in Glasgow, Scotland

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 operated the nearby Govan shipyard since 1999.

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 Uganda Railways and Harbours with the Tanganyika Railway of the Tanganyika Territory. As well as running railways and harbours in the three territories it ran inland shipping services on Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga, Lake Albert, the Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile.

MV Bukoba was a Lake Victoria ferry that carried passengers and cargo between the Tanzanian ports of Bukoba and Mwanza. Bukoba was built in about 1979 and had capacity for 850 tons of cargo and 430 passengers.

MV <i>Liemba</i>

MV Liemba, formerly Graf Goetzen or Graf von Goetzen, is a passenger and cargo ferry that runs along the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The Marine Services Company Limited of Tanzania sails her, with numerous stops to pick up and set down passengers, between the ports of Kigoma, Tanzania and Mpulungu, Zambia.

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.

Tanzania Ports Authority Public corporation in Tanzania

Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is a parastatal public corporation acting under the aegis of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, that has the responsibility "to manage and operate" the ocean ports and lake ports of the country of Tanzania. The Tanzania Ports Authrorty headquarters are located in Kurasini Dar es Salaam. It is a member of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa.

Tanzania Railways Limited

The Tanzania Railways Corporation(TRC) is a state-owned enterprise that runs one of Tanzania's two main railway networks.

MV <i>Kaawa</i>

MV Kaawa is a Lake Victoria ferry that was operated by the Uganda Railways Corporation.

MV <i>Uhuru</i>

MV Uhuru is a Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa. She is a Kenya Railways Corporation train ferry that operated between Jinja, Mwanza, Musoma and Kisumu. Uhuru means "freedom" in Swahili.

MV Kabalega was a Lake Victoria ferry operated by the Uganda Railways Corporation.

MV <i>Victoria</i> (1959)

MV Victoria is a Lake Victoria ferry operated by the Marine Services Company Limited of Tanzania.

SS Rusinga is a cargo and passenger Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa.

SS Clement Hill was a cargo and passenger Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa.

SS Winifred was a cargo and passenger Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa.

SS Sybil was a cargo and passenger Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa.

MV Pemba is a Lake Victoria ferry that was operated by the Uganda Railways Corporation. Registered in Port Bell, Uganda, the ship's regular route was between Port Bell and Mwanza, in Tanzania.

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 Burundi, DR Congo, Zambia and Malawi.

MV Serengeti is a Lake Victoria passenger and cargo ship operated by the Marine Services Company Limited of Mwanza, Tanzania.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Cameron, Stuart (2004). "Umoja (1965)". Clyde-built Database. Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 22 May 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Amin, Mohamed; Willetts, Duncan; Matheson, Alastair (1986). Railway Across The Equator: The Story of the East African Line. London: The Bodley Head. pp. 140–143. ISBN   0-370-30774-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "MV. Umoja". Vessels. Marine Services Company Limited. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  4. 1 2 Cameron, Stuart (2004). "Uhuru (1965)". Clyde-built Database. Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ↑ "Home". Marine Services Company Limited. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  6. ↑ Theroux, Paul (2003). Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. not cited. ISBN   0-618-13424-7.
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