Name MV Pemba Type train ferry | Completed circa 1983–86 | |
Operator Uganda Railways Corporation Route on Lake Victoria between Port Bell, Uganda & Mwanza, Tanzania Status suspended from service since 2005 | ||
MV Pemba is a Lake Victoria ferry that was operated by the Uganda Railways Corporation.
Contents
2005 incident
At about 0300 hrs on 8 May 2005 Pemba was en route to Mwanza in Tanzania when her sister ships MV Kaawa and MV Kabalega collided with each other. Kaawa received a distress call, put about, and reached the scene of the collision "one and a half hours" later. Kabalega was sinking so Pemba positioned herself alongside, rescued her eight officers and 16 crew and landed them at Luzira in Uganda.
URC's Chairman of Governors Paul Etiang admitted that marine insurance for Kaawa, Kabalega and Pemba had expired in December 2004 and not been renewed. After the collision Kaawa was withdrawn from service for repairs to her bow and Pemba was suspended from service.
Proposed return to service
In September 2005 Uganda's minister of works, John Nasasira, claimed that structural repairs Kaawa's collision damage and to her sister ship Pemba were almost complete but that 3.4 billion Ugandan Shillings was needed "to fully repair and maintain, class and insure the vessels". By October 2009 the two ferries were still out of service but Nasasira claimed the Government would recondition both vessels and would return Pemba to service in 2010 and Kaawa in 2011.