MV Pearl, one of the ferries that operate between Lukku-Bugoma in Kalangala and Bukakata in Masaka has suspended operations for overhaul of its two engines and to undergo other maintenance works.
The exercise, done routinely to ensure the vessel is safe to carry cargo and passengers, was initially scheduled to start on August 4 and last 8 weeks.
Joseph Mulindwa, the Spokes person of Kalangala Infrastructure Services Limited-KIS, explains that the exercise was postponed because of the Kenyan elections. Mulindwa says there were fears that engineers, coming from Kenya, to carry out the engine overhaul would be unsafe to travel at the peak of the campaigns and polls slated for August 9.
“They also had to vote so we pushed the exercise to end of this month,” he added.
The company contracted Secco Engineering and Monou Engineering Services to carry out the engine overhaul and other maintenance works.
KIS runs MV Pearl and MV Ssese on behalf of the government to make several trips daily to and from Kalangala district. The trips are free of charge and take thirty minutes between the two docking sites.
In the absence of MV Pearl, MV Ssese will operate more trips daily between Kalangala and Masaka.
As a result, the first trip from Kalangala will be at 6:30am at Bugoma docking pier in Kalangala and 8:45 am from Bukakata docking pier in Masaka from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, MV Ssese will depart from Bugoma at 8:00am and at 8:45am at Bukakata docking pier.
Meanwhile, Chief Captain Godfrey Ayesigye will on Tuesday sail MV Pearl to Port Bell, Luzira for dry docking and engine overhaul.
Musa Kimuli, the assistant engineer says the ferry will be out of service for two months and was due for an engine overhaul. The engines are overhauled after every 25,000 running hours, which covers about three years. The vessel’s two diesel engines were overhauled in 2019.
Apart from the major engine overhaul, Kimuli says the engineers will inspect and work on other systems and parts of the vessel such as oil pumps, coolant pipes, fuel system, exhaust manifold, cooling water lines and cylinder liners.
Kimuli is urging travelers to adjust to the new schedule until MV Pearl resumes operations in late October.
However regular travelers and Kalangala residents like Edina Mavitta and Sulaiman Male say there will be long queues at the two docking sites resulting from the absence of MV Pearl.
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