MV Kalangala suspends operations to undergo annual maintenance

MV Kalangala, the only public vessel plying the Entebbe-Kalangala route will effective Tuesday (April 23, 2024) suspend operations to undergo a mandatory intermediate survey at the Port Bell- Luzira dry docking site.

A dry dock is a machinery that is used to lift ferries and other marine vessels from the water to allow engineers to look beneath and carry out major renovations.

According to Mr Hakim Bwanika, the spokesperson for Nation Oil Distributors Limited (NODL), a company managing the vessel, MV Kalangala is expected to leave Kalangala on Tuesday morning and dock at Fort Alice, Nakiwogo in Entebbe and later be taken to Luzira.

"As we usually do every year, we shall suspend operations effective Tuesday for a month to allow the vessel have an engine overhaul as one of the recommendations for the safety of our people,” he told the Monitor on Monday.

MV Kalangala charges Shs17,000 for passengers sitting in first class and those in second class pay Shs10,000 for the same route.

The servicing of the vessel, which is technically known as a docking survey, helps to check the vessel’s operational safety status.

All vessels are supposed to be examined in dry dock at intervals not exceeding two and a half years.

MV Kalangala was last serviced in February 2023.

By the time it's taken for dry docking, it had experienced several malfunctions that NODL regarded as minor.

During the absence of MV Kalangala, MV NODL Victoria, a private vessel operated by the same firm will ply the route, charging Shs 15,000 for passengers sitting in second class and Shs 25,000 for first class.

Mr Bwanika further advised travellers with vehicles and heavy cargo that exceed 50 kilograms to travel to Masaka by route and use the two ferries (MV Sese and MV Pearl) that ply the Bukakkata-Kalangala route.

Recently, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Kalangala District Ms Eva Kwesiga requested the government to procure another public vessel insisting that MV Kalangala is too old to ply the 65-kilometre route between Entebbe and Kalangala.

The withdrawal of MV Kalangala comes at a time when MV Nathalie, the only modern vessel plying the Kasenyi-Kyamuswa route on April 4 suspended its operations to undergo mandatory annual full maintenance. Even though repairs were completed last week, the operators of MV Nathalie, say they will resume normal operations after modern jetties are installed at the two docking sites (Kasenyi and Kyamuswa).

MV Kalangala was built in 2005, in fulfillment of President Museveni’s 2001 campaign pledge to the islanders.