Lake Malawi - Transport On The Lake

Transport On The Lake

Large-scale transport between villages on the shores of Lake Malawi, and also between the lakeshore and the inhabited islets, is provided by steamboats or motor ships on the lake, or else by air transport.

MV Chauncy Maples began service on the lake in 1901 as the SS Chauncy Maples: a floating clinic and church for the Universities' Mission to Central Africa. She later served as a ferry and is currently laid up at Monkey Bay awaiting restoration.

MV Mpasa entered service in 1935.

The ferry MV Ilala entered service in 1951. In recent years she has often been out of service, but when operational she runs between Monkey Bay at the southern end of the lake to Karonga on the northern end, and occasionally to the Iringa Region of Tanzania.

The ferry MV Mtendere entered service in 1980. By 1982 she was carrying 100,000 passengers per year. She normally serves the southern part of the lake but if Ilala is out of service she operates the route to Karonga.

The Tanzanian ferry MV Songea was built in 1988. Her operator was the Tanzania Railway Corporation Marine Division until 1997, when it became the Marine Services Company Limited. Songea plies weekly between Liuli and Nkhata Bay via Itungi and Mbamba Bay.

Vessels travel about twice a week from Nkhata Bay on the lakeshore to the Likoma and Chizumulu islets, taking several hours to make the crossing. Neither of the islets has a usable port, and larger boats anchor offshore before transferring their passengers and cargoes to the islets in small watercraft.