Azam Marine launches Kilimanjaro 8

Unguja. Azama Marine on Monday, April 25, launched one of their latest ferries plying the Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar route christened Kilimanjaro 8, 'The Falcon of the Sea’.

Speaking at the unveiling Azam Marine managing director, Mr Abubakar Aziz Salim said that Kilimanjaro 8 was built for a period of 18 months in Hobart city which is the capital of Australia's island state of Tasmania.

According to Mr Salim, it is a modern ship that has the capacity of carrying 631 passengers. It has three classes as economy which has the capacity of 559 passengers; 56 in the VIP and 16 in the Royal Class. It runs on two engines of a total of 8,000 horsepower.

“The ship was named Falcon because it was built to look like a falcon. The shape helps the ship to effectively sail through the water by easily dividing the sea waves and defeating any resistance by wind,” he said.

Gracing the launch of Azam Marine’s new ship which has been given a business name of ‘, President Hussein Mwinyi said his plan to develop Zanzibar on the blue economy agenda was based on five key sectors of tourism, marine transport and trading, fisheries, oil and gas as well as ports.

“So far, tourism, marine transport and trading are doing fine. The remaining three were not doing well but we are working hard, in cooperation with the private sector, to boost them as well,” he said.

He said it was in an effort to improve the port performance that his government was building a new multipurpose port at Mangapwani which will service not only Zanzibar but the entire region of East Africa.

The government, he said, was also putting its emphasis on modern fishing. It was also putting incentives that will attract more investors in the oil and gas sector.

“It is our hope that these five areas, which are closely linked to the blue economy, will completely transform Zanzibar’s economy,” he said.