Uganda News

Tanzania on Sunday signed agreements with Dubai state-owned ports operator DP World to operate part of the Dar es Salaam port for 30 years, a deal that has previously been opposed by Tanzania opposition and rights groups.Plasduce Mbossa, director general of state-owned Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) which currently manages the port, said DP World will lease and operate four of the 12 berths at the country's largest port.Dar es Salaam also serves landlocked nations in east and southern Africa like Uganda…

The International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) has announced the winners of this year’s IMRF Awards, which recognize all those involved in global maritime search and rescue (SAR) efforts.The IMRF Awards acknowledge those that have shown excellence in their field, developed innovative technology and equipment, or acted as a role model to inspire others. The awards also shine a light on those colleagues who offer the tireless support, training, and planning that enables SAR crews to do what they do…

A ship carrying wheat from Ukraine to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa docked on Tuesday, the United Nations said, the first to make the journey since the Russian invasion six months ago.The vessel Brave Commander is carrying 23,000 tonnes of grain and will soon be followed by another carrying 7,000 tonnes.The total shipment, which will be unloaded in Djibouti and transported to Ethiopia, is enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month.That barely begins to alleviate the problems of Eastern Africa, where the United Nations' World Food Programme says extreme weather, surging food prices and conflict mean 82 million people need food aid across nine countries - Burundi…

A ferry serving Lake Victoria in East Africa has been fitted with new Schottel propulsion systems.With an area of nearly 69,000 square meters, Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa—and a vital resource for around 30 million people who live on its shores. It is not only a source of water and fish but also provides them with transport routes. Every day, almost 40 ferries travel across the lake between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. One of these ferries is the 1985-built Sengerema…

The first ships docked at Kenya's deep water Lamu Port on Thursday as the country looks to open a new transport corridor linking its vast northern region and neighboring nations to the sea.Kenyan officials hope that the Indian Ocean port, the country's second deep water facility, will attract cargo destined for neighboring landlocked nations Ethiopia and South Sudan, and offer transhipment services where large vessels bring in cargo for onward distribution by smaller ships.The Lamu Port…

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) is expanding its management team further: in April, Carsten Treuer starts as Head of Operations and Bernd Liedtke as Head of Sales.“I am very much looking forward to working with these two shipbuilding specialists,” says Philipp Maracke, CEO of Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, about the expansion of his team. “Our common goal is, on the one hand, to align production even more specifically with the requirements of our portfolio in the future.

In the next decade, we’ll see more accelerated change in shipping fuels than we’ve seen in the last century. What does this heightened diversity mean for shipowners? They must be nimbler than ever – a shift that requires work. It means greening supply chains, bolstering energy efficiency, nurturing more partnerships, streamlining costs, and becoming adept at green finance (frequent change can be expensive to start with). All will help shipowners’ fuel portfolios adapt to the inevitable…

The Cook Islands and Sao Tome and Principe have become the latest States to become Party to the Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety.These small nations deposited their instruments of accession during the Torremolinos Ministerial Conference on Fishing Vessel Safety and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing (21-23 October).At the same time, they joined 44 other countries (46 in total) signing the Torremolinos Declaration, a non-legally binding political instrument.By signing the Declaration, the 46 States publicly indicate their determination to ensure the Cape Town Agreement reaches entry into force criteria by the tenth anniversary of its adoption (11 October 2022).

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been working with southern and eastern African countries to help implement marine environment protection measures contained in one of the organization’s flagship treaties – MARPOL.A workshop held in Mombasa, Kenya (17-19) gathered participants from 12 countries to focus on MARPOL Annexes I to V, and in particular the regulations covering garbage discharge from ships and adequacy of port reception facilities. The participating countries were - Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania (United Republic of).Participants discussed factors affecting full implementation of MARPOL and its annexes…

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) said that its training on the International Safety Management (ISM) Code was conducted for nine countries in the eastern and southern Africa subregion.The participanting countries were Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.Thirty-two participants took part in the event, which was hosted by the Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation (TASAC) in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania (17-21 June).The UN body said that the code sets international standard for safe ship management and operation.The course is focused on how the code evolved and its importance in efforts to improve safe ship operation and pollution prevention.

Spanish engineering and technology group SENER has contracted the basic design of a 1,200-passenger ferry for Tanzanian shipping line Kampuni ya Huduma za Meli (Marine Services Co., Ltd.) to the Korean company GAS Entec."With this new engineering contract, SENER has the experience from having built over 1,200 ships and offshore artifacts worldwide under its own designs. With more than 60 years working in the Marine sector, nowadays SENER provides professional services to shipyards, technical offices, shipping lines, ship owners and official organizations all over the world," claimed a press release from the company.The scope of the project to be developed by SENER includes conceptual and classification engineering…

International Maritime Organization (IMO) is supporting a training course aimed at female officials from maritime and port authorities entitled to encourage more women to join the maritime ranks in many aspect of the industry.Twenty-seven women from 18 developing countries are taking part in the two-week "Women in Port Management" course, hosted in Le Havre, France (12 – 23 November). The countries are Antigua & Barbuda, Bangladesh, Belize, Brazil, Cambodia, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritius, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Seychelles, the Sudan, Uganda and Viet Nam.The course includes lectures on subjects such as port management, port security, marine environment, facilitation of maritime traffic, marketing, port logistics and other topics.

Dubai-based global port operator DP World and the Rwandan government have opened East Africa’s first Inland Dry Port, 20 kilometers from the capital city Kigali and close to the international airport.DP World Kigali logistics hub is a secure, bonded facility spread over 13 hectares and features an Inland Container Terminal (ICT) with modern warehousing capacity, a container yard, administrative and services buildings, parking areas and other facilities.According to a release from the world's port terminal operator, DP World Kigali accesses two secure trade gateways for eastern Africa, the port of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

A training event on oil spill preparedness and response for countries in eastern Africa, was held in Dar Es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania (6-9 November).The  relevant government agency representatives with responsibilities in spill response in the countries like Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Somalia, United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda have participated in the training."In the event of a marine oil spill, relevant government agencies in the affected region need to manage and coordinate a response," a release from International Maritime Organization (IMO) explained the scenario.The…

Tanzanian authorities said on Sunday the number of people who died in a ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria had risen to 224 and the vessel's managers had been detained for questioning.The ferry, MV Nyerere, sank on Thursday evening just a few meters from the dock on Ukerewe, the lake's biggest island.Works, Transport and Communication Minister Isack Kamwelwe told state broadcaster TBC the death toll had risen to 224 as of Sunday afternoon.The definitive cause of the capsizing…

German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd is continuing to focus on the growing market in East Africa, where annual growth rates of approximately six percent lead the African continent.In April 2018 Hapag-Lloyd launched the East Africa Service (EAS), its first dedicated service to East Africa. The weekly service sails from Jeddah to Mombasa, and from there to Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, and directly back to Jeddah. The service will be expanded in September with a weekly connection to and from Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Khor Fakkan, Jebel Ali, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.

Activists hailed a Kenyan court for ordering that almost 5,000 fishermen at a 14th century World Heritage Site receive millions in compensation for the loss of traditional fishing rights due to the construction of a major port.The fishermen in Lamu, the oldest Swahili settlement in East Africa, won 1.76 billion shillings ($18 million) in compensation this week from a court in the nearby town of Malindi, which also said their rights to culture and information had been violated."We were happy with the judgment…

Maritime forces from East Africa, West Indian Ocean nations, Europe and the United States, as well as several international organizations, will begin the sixth iteration of the annual multinational maritime exercise Cutlass Express, Jan. 31. Cutlass Express 2017, sponsored by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVAF), is designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity and promote national and regional security in East Africa, inform planning and operations. • Cutlass Express 2017 (CE17) will test participating nations’ ability to respond to illicit trafficking, piracy, illegal fishing, and search and rescue situations.

Skills necessary in dealing with maritime transnational organised crimes at sea, including, piracy, armed robbery against ships, drug trafficking, marine terrorism and more were at the core of a two-week training course which concluded today in Mombasa, Kenya (22 May – 2 June 2017). The course was conducted under the auspices of the JeddahAmendment to Djibouti Code of Conduct 2017, as a joint initiative between the East African Standby Force (EASF), Nordic Advisory and Coordination Staff (NACS) and  International Maritime Organization (IMO). 15 participants from the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) signatory states attended the event, namely: Comoros, Kenya, Seychelles and Sudan as well as Burundi and Uganda from the East African Standby Force.

Promoting women's access to quality employment and senior management level within the maritime sector is a key priority for International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s gender and capacity-building program and was at the core of the 8th regional conference to support the Association of Women Managers in the Maritime Sector in East and Southern Africa (WOMESA), held in Mahé, Seychelles (September 26 to 29). Under the theme "A Decade of empowering Maritime Women - What does the future hold for Africa's Blue Economy?", the event, supported by the Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration (SMSA), focused on the key achievements made by the Association over the last decade, as it celebrates its milestone 10th anniversary.

The question of how to manage emergency preparedness and response in the oil and gas sector was on the agenda at a workshop in Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania (17-20 October). Participants from countries across the East Africa region gathered to highlight good practices in developing national preparedness and response systems, as well as how to improve understanding of risk assessments related to oil and gas development and potential impacts on environment. The group also worked to identify areas for strengthening emergency preparedness and response at national and regional levels. International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Colleen O’Hagan helped to facilitate the workshop and provided an overview of the Organization’s International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness…

Kenya's main port, Mombasa, handled 10.6 percent more cargo in the first nine months of this year, helped by an expansion of its handling capacity and a new railway system, the port’s management said on Monday. Activity in east Africa's biggest port is considered a measure of economic activity for the region. Mombasa handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The increased traffic comes despite prolonged tensions over an election in August which was nullified and then rerun in October. Mombasa handled 22.8 million tonnes of cargo between January and September compared with 20.6 million in the same period last year, Catherine Mturi, the port managing director, said.

Ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd will commence a new weekly service between the Port of Jeddah and the east coast of Africa in April. With the East Africa Service (EAS), the liner shipping company will be calling at the ports of Mombasa (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) for the first time. These will be connected to Hapag-Lloyd’s existing global network via the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah, as the central hub of the region. Hapag-Lloyd will initially deploy four vessels, each with a capacity of 1,200 TEU, in the EAS. The fast-growing economies of countries in East Africa further inland from Kenya and Tanzania, which lack their own seaports, are also likely to benefit from this new offer, as it will give them improved access to the global market.