Prime
Kalangala gets new ferry
The MV NODL Victoria at Port Bell Luzira, Kampala, on Wednesday. PHOTO/EVE MUGANGA.
What you need to know:
- The vessel will not be carrying heavy cargo like the MV Kalangala.
Travellers to and from Kalangala District have a reason to smile after getting another passenger vessel plying the same route.
The new vessel, MV NODL Victoria, will operate alongside MV Kalangala which government procured in 2005.
Mr Sadala Musoke, the executive director of National Oil Distributors Ltd (NODL), which manages MV Kalangala, said the new vessel has capacity to carry 200 passengers.
“It has two decks with the latest state-of-the-art technology. Our clients will receive high class services only comparable to those offered in a plane,” he said during an interview on Wednesday.
Mr Musoke said the vessel has various classes of service which include first, second, VIP, and VVIP where passengers will be paying different fares, but slightly higher than those of the MV Kalangala.
Passengers using the MV Kalangala pay Shs20,000 for VIP, first class Shs15,000, and Shs10,000 ordinary class.
The MV NODL Victoria will, however, not be taking heavy cargo and vehicles as MV Kalangala does and targets mostly tourists and travellers with light cargo.
Mr Musoke added that marine experts from the International Register of Shipping have inspected the vessel and approved its seaworthiness.
“We are now waiting for the line ministry to design its route chart. Once that is done, we will certainly start operations,” he said.
Mr Musoke said the new vessel will be able to make several trips daily due to its advanced technology, unlike MV Kalangala which leaves Entebbe in the afternoon and returns the following day.
“It [new vessel] will take less than two hours to sail from Entebbe to Kalangala and will also be used during rescue operations,” he added
Mr Savoy Pazham Thottathil, a marine surveyor from the International Register of Shipping, said the MV NODL Victoria is of catamaran type (with two parallel hulls of equal size) and is stable and durable.
“Catamarans have natural buoyancy, making them unsinkable. So this vessel has all the safety gadgets in case there is a problem,” he said.
The secretary of Ssese Tourism Development Association, Mr Ibrahim Ssenyonga, said the vessel will stimulate the tourism sector on the islands.
“We welcome the new vessel. There are many tourism sites on other islands far from Buggala Main Island where the majority of the vessels dock,” Mr Ssenyonga said.
He added: “We urge the operators to consider creating another route to other distant tourism sites of Bukasa and Kyamuswa where tourists fear to go due to unsafe means of transport.”
Marine transport
Uganda’s marine transport has over the years had a number of challenges, with travellers spending more time in transit than necessary.
There are only two main routes connecting Kalangala Islands to the mainland. One is through Entebbe, which takes between three and four hours on water and three hours by road (Kampala-Masaka highway) and 45 minutes on the Bukakkata–Bugoma route using the MV Pearl and MV Ssese marine vessels.
