China’s Zijin Mining is developing a logistics corridor to connect its Manono lithium project in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Tanganyika province to ports in Tanzania, and is nearing completion of four cargo vessels to operate on Lake Tanganyika.

Construction of the vessels was more than 95% complete as of March 2026, according to Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen. Two had been completed, a third was awaiting approval from the Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation (TASAC), and a fourth had just been launched and is due for completion in July 2026.

Zijin said in November 2025 it had launched the first bulk carrier in the series, Golden Voyage No. 1, describing it as a key link in a future export route between the DRC and Tanzania. Each vessel measures 70.08 meters in length and 15 meters in width, with a carrying capacity of 2,000 tons and a range of 1,000 nautical miles.

The ships were built in modular sections in China by Shandong Xinneng Shipbuilding and shipped to Tanzania for final assembly at the port of Karema. Golden Voyage Logistics, a Zijin subsidiary, applied for space at the port to launch the project in October 2023, according to The Citizen.

Multimodal logistics corridor

The fleet will primarily support the supply chain for the Manono lithium project. Output will be transported by road over roughly 440 km from Manono to Kalemie, then loaded onto vessels on Lake Tanganyika bound for Kigoma, before being moved overland to Dar es Salaam for export.

The lake operation forms part of a broader logistics strategy. In August 2025, Zijin signed a concession agreement with Tanzania to operate the port of Kigoma and the Malindi terminal at the port of Dar es Salaam, alongside a modernization program covering warehouses, storage areas and cargo-handling equipment.

On the industrial side, the Manono project is designed for an annual mining and processing capacity of five million tons of ore. The facility is expected to process 500,000 tons of spodumene concentrate to produce about 95,170 tons of crude lithium sulfate per year, with commissioning scheduled for June 30, 2026.

In this context, deploying the vessels on Lake Tanganyika is key to securing Zijin’s export corridor from eastern DRC to the Indian Ocean.

Timothée Manoke