From 30 April 2021, navigation is opened along the main route of the Volga-Baltic Basin of Russia’s inland water ways between Saint-Petersburg and Cherepovets, says press center of the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency.
The main route with guaranteed depth and lighted aids to navigation is 805 kilometers long. It runs within Saint-Petersburg, the Leningrad Region and the Vologda Region and includes the Neva river, the southern lane of the Ladoga lake, the Svir river, the Vodorazdelny canal and the Sheksna river.
The guaranteed depth along the route is 4.0 meters which is sufficient for ships with a draft of up to 3.75 meters.
The length of waterways in the Volga-Baltic basin with aids to navigation will be 3,559.6 kilometers this navigation season including 3,012.6 kilometers of waterways with guaranteed dimensions.
A convoy of 8 units of Volga Shipping Company off the port of Cherepovets includes 2 ships loaded with metal bound for the Baltics.
Ships can pass the locks from 30 April 2021. The first was ATB unit bound for Karelia to be loaded with a batch of crushed stone.
From the side of the Baltic Sea, the first to pass the Lower Svir locks was the hopper barge SB-1640 on her way to Kostroma.
In 2020, water level within the basin was high enough to allow navigation of ships with a draft of up to 375 cm. In the navigation season of 2020, cargo traffic on the Volga-Baltic waterways fell by 4%, year-on-year.