Ship repair and maintenance services at riverport facilities, Kinshasa, Congo (Democratic Republic)

"The state-owned company that dominates river transport in Zaire, ONATRA was known as the Office d'Exploitation des Transports Coloniaux during colonial times. It was created in 1935 as a government-sponsored agency to operate river and seaport facilities and to control all water transport in the colony except that of the Upper Zaire River and Lake Tanganyika. It was renamed OTRACO at independence. At its peak in 1972, ONATRA operated 700 barges, 100 tugboats, and 40 other vessels on Zaire's principal waterways." [F. Scott Bobb, 1999: Historical Dictionary of Democratic Republic of Congo, The Scarecrow Press, Inc.]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Broadcasting Company and traveled to Africa from early December 1966 to early February 1967.