Waterways Assessment

Uganda is a landlocked country of approximately 250,000 km² of which lakes comprise of almost 40,000 km² of the country surface area.

Given the vast expanses of water and rivers in the region, the need for transportation of both goods and persons is currently an ongoing discussion between the commercial and political sector in Uganda.

Apart and in addition to Lake Victoria whereby far is the largest volumes of transport of freight and personnel are made; other lakes such as Lake Albert, Lake Edward, Lake Kyoga, and Lake Bisina also contributes to the overall marine transport infrastructure of Uganda: Water Transport Projects (works.go.ug)

Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes, with a surface area of approximately 59,947 km² Lake Victoria is one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes by surface area. Lake Victoria is divided among three countries; Kenya occupies about 6 %, Uganda 45% and Tanzania about 49% of the total surface area: Lake Victoria - Wikipedia

Since the 1900s, Lake Victoria have been important means of transport between Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. The main ports on the lake are Kisumu (Kenya), Mwanza (Tanzania) and Port Bell (Uganda) who serves by dedicated ferries (MV Umoja, MV Victoria, and MV Pemba) operating to and from the countries with passengers and cargo (Ro/Ro).

On the private side, Bidco Oil Company operates a 200 m long jetty which is used to receive crude palm oil from the Kalangala Island Plantation. It receives 2 tanker vessels per week each of 450 MT tank capacity, one of which also carries 500 ton of fertilizer above deck.

JGH Marine is another privately owned marine service who is planning to build a 350 MT RoRo vessel and Mahathi Infra Uganda Limited, is planning to construct fuel barges and fuel storage terminal. The site is in between Kampala and Entebbe at Bukasa Kawuku.

Lake Albert:

The lake borders The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda on the western and eastern sides respectively. It covers over 5000 km² and is 160 km long by 32 km wide. It is linked to Lake Kyoga by River Nile but due to waterfalls there is no connecting marine traffic. A road connects the two lakes between Masindi at the western end of Lake Kyoga to Butiaba on the eastern coast of Lake Albert.

Lake Kyoga:

The Lake is located between the Eastern, Central and Northern of Uganda. It has several landing sites but only 2 sites are currently linked by passenger ferry services, Zengebe in Nakasongola District and Namasale in Amolatar District. The Lake is served by 2 ferries to meet the overwhelming demand of passenger transportation.

Lake Bisina:

Lake Bisina is a small fishing lake between Lakes Kyoga and Lake Opeta which are interconnected by swamps. There is a UNRA passenger ferry service connecting Agule landing site in Kumi to Okokorio in Katakwi district.

Lake Edward:

Lake Edward Is another transboundary water body shared with DR Congo, it is 77 kilometres long by 40 kilometres wide with a surface area of 2,325 km², there is no cargo infrastructure nor transportation services on the lake.

Company:

The water transport sector in Uganda is managed by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) under the Ministry of Works. UNRA has currently 14 active ferries in the country, as below indicated.

Table 2.5.1. Uganda: Passenger Carrying Capacity.

Travel Time Matrix:

Table 2.5.2. Uganda: Time Travel Matrix.

Table 2.5.3. Uganda: Travel Key Routes.

Table 2.5.4. Uganda: Key Port Information.

Projects and development plans:

Port Bell, redevelopment plans are in place and the remodelling and expansion of the port to cover an area of 4.67 ha and will include:

• 1 Ro-Ro berth for multi-purpose vessels
• 2 new berths (a total of 240m of berthing space)
• Storage area for 290 TEU
• Parking space for 135 trucks/trailers
• New bridge for catamaran ferries
• New cargo handling equipment
• A warehouse and customs offices (97m x 30m)
• Rehabilitation of the workshop (30m x 10m)

Jinja Pier, redevelopment plans are in place and the remodelling and expansion to cover an area of 3.32 ha including:

• 1 Ro-Ro berth for multi-purpose vessels
• 2 new berths (a total of 240m of berthing space)
• Storage area for 290 TEU
• Parking space for 84 trucks/trailers
• New cargo handling equipment
• New office block for officials (10m x 12m), warehouse (48m x 30m), and port building (10m x 15m)

Bukasa Port, project is ongoing conceived as multimodal cargo handling facility for road, rail, and shipping handling as well as logistics centre location for assembling, de-commissioning, storage and re-distribution of imports and export cargoes; plans involve:

• A multipurpose terminal for break bulk and containers.
• A Ro-Ro terminal for trucks and trailers.
• A Free Trade Zone
• Port operation and security
• New rail (MGR and SGR) access to/from Kampala Industrial Park in Namanve.

For more information regarding water projects, please see following link: Multinational Lake Victoria Maritime Communications and Transport Project (works.go.ug)