Burundi cargo ship

Burundi, a landlocked central African state, which, naturally, is not normally associated with shipbuilding, has recently hosted the construction of a general cargo vessel with a 1,500t carrying capacity. The newbuilding, Teza, was built entirely in Burundi by the local ship owner Batralac and will operate on the country?s Lake Tanganyika under the management of Basil Demeris. At 12,700 square miles (32,890 square km) in area, the lake is the second largest in Africa. Bordered by Zaire, Tanzania and Zambia, in addition to Burundi, Lake Tanganyika has had ships plying its 420 mile (680 km) length since the beginning of the last century.

Designed by the Greek firm Chris Simopoulos, the 60m long vessel with a beam of 11m is powered by a pair of Cummins KT19 marine diesels each with an output of 312kW at 1,800 rev/min. Each diesel drives a 1,450mm propeller via a Twin Disc MG516 gear to give the vessel a service speed of 11 knots. Electrical needs are met by a pair of 37kW Mo??s CUST370-4M generators powered by two Cummins 4B engines. With a moulded depth of 4.5m, the hull is constructed from steel with varying thicknesses of 6 to 12mm. Atlas Copco supplied the compressor, Ecco the echo sounder, PPM the crane and other components. The main engines, marine gears and gensets were installed by Metalubia, the local dealer for Cummins.

The ship will work with a crew of 16 and can carry 1,500t of cargo or 40 TEU boxes while tankage is provided for 77,000 litres of fuel. The main cargo is likely to be coffee, which accounts for up to 80% of the country?s foreign exchange earnings while tea and cotton are also important cash crops. In addition to Teza, the Batralac fleet comprises Tora (built 1988) and Rwegura (built 1982). All the ships are named after large tea plantations in Burundi.