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Why MV Pearl repairs delayed for a month
MV Pearl suspended operations for two months effective August 29 to undergo major servicing. PHOTO/ SYLVESTER SSEMUGENYI
What you need to know:
The vessel will undergo generator and engine overhaul servicing before it resumes operations
MV Pearl, one of the two vessels that ply the Kalangala -Bukakkata route on Lake Victoria, had been scheduled to halt its operations effective August 4 to overhaul its engines, among others.
However, this never happened until August 29 when the ferry was taken to Port Bell, Luzira dry dock in Kampala where repair works are being conducted.
Mr Joseph Mulindwa, the public relations officer for Kalangala Infrastructure Services (KIS), which manages MV Pearl and MV Ssese, said the overhaul of the vessel was delayed due to the political situation in neighbouring Kenya.
“Some of the identified segments for repair and engineers were supposed to be outsourced from Kenya where a general election had been taking place. Therefore, we had to wait for the situation to normalise. Secondly, we also discovered that some spare parts had not been shipped into the country and we had to reschedule our booking at the dry dock,” Mr Mulindwa said during an interview on Tuesday.
“So, we kept the vessel operating for almost a month since it could still go for more than two months before being taken to the dry dock. ” he added.
Daily Monitor has learnt that a team of eight engineers that comprise five Ugandans and three Kenyans have been lined up to handle the servicing of the ferry.
The exercise is expected to last two months.
During MV Pearl’s absence, Mr Mulindwa said, there will be a 30 minutes delay for every trip by MV Ssese, a sister ferry plying the same route.
Under the revised sailing schedule, he said MV Ssese will be leaving Bukakkata at 6:30am for Bugoma on Kalangala Island where it will dock at 7am. The ferry will be making 14 routes daily up from seven it was making previously.
“We advise our passengers to fix their schedule with the remaining vessel which will be delayed by 30 minutes on every trip during the two-month period as we cover routes which could have been taken by MV Pearl,” Mr Mulindwa said.
Mr Musa Kimuli, the chief engineer for MV Pearl, said the vessel will undergo generator and engine overhaul servicing before it resumes normal operations in November.
“Our generators and engines had reached the running hours which calls for a major overhaul. All the long-awaited parts are now available and work is going on well,” he said.
Mr John Senfuma, the chairperson of KIS, said overhauling MV Pearl at Luzira is going to be less costly compared to taking it to Mwanza in Tanzania as they used to do.
“Servicing our vessel at Luzira is going to save us some money, we pay $400 (about Shs1.5m) per day yet in Mwanza, it costs $600 (about Shs2.2m). We are happy that the Luzira facility is fully-operational,” he said.
Mr Chris Ssekamanya, a truck driver and a regular traveller on Masaka –Kalangala route, asked the managers of KIS to ensure the ferry returns in time because it is the major means of transporting cargo from Masaka to the islands.
Accessing kalangala
Kalangala Island can mainly be accessed via the Masaka route through Bukakkata and Bugoma with the use of the MV Pearl and MV Ssese ferries. MV Pearl was procured by the government in 2012 through a public-private partnership with Kalangala Infrastructure Services to replace MV Bukakkata which was decommissioned. Three years later, MV Ssese was added to handle the increasing number of travellers to the islands through Masaka. Both ferries expected to make 28 trips daily.
