East Africa is taking tentative steps to develop a shipbuilding industry.
The Uhuru II, a $16m cargo ship that was locally constructed and assembled at state-run Kenya Shipyards in Kisumu, was commissioned by President William Ruto on Monday.
The 100 m long ship, with a capacity of 1,800 tons, will ferry goods and oil across Lake Victoria. The ship was built from scratch in Kenya with the help of expertise of Damen Shipyards.
Meanwhile, Turkish shipyard Dearsan has this week signed with the Tanzanian government to build a $129m shipyard in Kigoma with a view to building ships of between 3,000 and 3,500 dwt for trade on Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika.
