(Ecofin Agency) – The MV Uhuru II, Kenya’s first locally built cargo ship, was inaugurated on Tuesday, October 9, 2023, by President William Ruto. Measuring 100 meters in length, it has a gross tonnage of 1800 tonnes and can transport up to 22 wagons and 2 million liters of crude oil per voyage.
With a budget of nearly 2.4 billion Kenyan shillings, the project was carried out at the Kisumu shipyard with technical assistance from the Dutch shipbuilder Damen. It is expected to operate on the country’s inland and regional waterways.
According to Kenyan authorities, the construction of the ship was initiated to enhance the capacity of the national fleet in response to the growing freight shipments to neighboring landlocked countries. It will particularly strengthen the supply chain for Uganda, whose orders for petroleum products via the Port of Mombasa have been handled by the MV Uhuru I, built in 1966.
While waiting for the mobilization of funding for the construction of the transnational SGR network between Kenya and Uganda, the MV Uhuru II will play a key role in shifting road traffic, especially from the Northern Corridor, to other modes of transportation. It takes the ship 10 hours to reach the Tanzanian or Ugandan capitals, as opposed to a 12 to 14-hour journey by road, which also carries a higher risk of accidents.