Keel laying of the ferry for Lake Victoria

The south port of Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria, in Tanzania, was the location of the keep laying - the installation of the first block on the slipway- for the 1,200-passenger ferry that SENER Engineering has designed for the South Korean company GAS Entec, the prime contractor of the ship ordered by the Tanzanian state-owned company Marine Service Co., Ltd. (MSCL).

The parts and minor assemblies of the ferry are manufactured in the shipyard of JK Heavy Industry, in Mokpo, South Korea, and are transported by sea to Dar es-Salaam, from where they continue their journey to Mwanza by rail. There, the construction blocks are assembled, in accordance with the production engineering completed by GAS Entec with the FORAN system.

The complete journey from Mokpo to Mwanza requires two and a half months. The first parts arrived at the assembly yard in October 2019. In all, 25 trips will be required, with each one moving twenty to thirty 40-foot containers.

The launch is scheduled for July 2021, and the final delivery to MSCL five months later. The new vessel will help solve a long-standing transportation problem on Lake Victoria. At a service speed of 14 knots, it will connect the ports of Mwanza and Bukoba, also in Tanzania, in just 7 hours.

• MAIN PARTICULARS:
• Lenght overall: 92,60 m
• Lenght between perpendiculars: 84,32 m
• Breadth moulded: 17,00 m
• Depth to main deck: 5,80 m
• Depth to upper deck: 11,60 m
• Design draft: 3,75 m
• Ballast draft: 3,20 m
  
• Deadweight: 900 t

• PASAJEROS:
• Economy class . sitting: 834
  
• Business class - sitting: 200
  
• In second-class cabin: 100
  
• In first-class cabin: 60
  
• In executive-class cabin: 4
  
• In VIP-class cabin: 2

• CARGA:
• Palletized cargo: 225 m²
• Vehícles: 98 m lineales
  
• Maximum load (incl. 20 cars): 400 t