FOLLOWING a construction period of twenty-one months, the M.V. Mpungu – a pioneering East Africa Marine Transport (EAMT) vessel – launched on Lake Victoria on February 21. The Bureau Veritas classified vessel’s launch from the purpose-built Entebbe shipbuilding facility of SECO Marine was a proud moment for the project’s stakeholders, funders and politicians.
Grindrod will operate the EAMT vessel, offering freight carriers access to a safe, scheduled freight service between Uganda and Tanzania. The EAMT vessel will cross the lake in an anticipated time of eighteen hours, compared with the current journey around the lake by congested regional roads which can take between three and four days.
