The Kenya Railways Corporation (KR) has resumed the freight business in Lake Victoria through the reintroduction of the refitted MV Uhuru.
Since December 2019,MV Uhuru has moved over 8.4 Million litres of petroleum products to Port Bell in Uganda, which is a one-stop-center for cargo haulage in the Lake Victoria waterways.
Kenya Railways has constructed a new 1.8 Km railway section from the national Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Kisumu railway siding to Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Kisumu Depot to facilitate movement of empty tank wagons to the depot for loading and movement back to MV Uhuru for further transportation to Port Bell.
The government through the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in partnership with the Kenya Railways Corporation refurbished Kisumu port and resumed oil exports to Uganda with the first consignment of 22 wagons loaded with 894,000 litres of diesel last December.
The multi-billion investment in the port, jetty and rail facilities in Kisumu has started paying-off with the off-take of petroleum exports to the hinterland, signaling the resumption of bulk exports through Lake Victoria which has been dormant for more than two decades.