Rosmorport says eight dredgers arrived at the site of the dredging repair works on the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Channel (VCSSC). This amount includes the vessels of FSUE “Rosmorport”: Petr Sablin, Artemiy Volynsky, Ivan Cheremisinov, Urengoy, Kronshlot and Severo-Zapadny-503 and two dredgers involved by the enterprise: “Mogushy” and “Arkady Kardakov”.
The nonself-propelled dredger “Peter Sablin” and the self-propelled bilge dredger “Ivan Cheremisinov” have already started working at the VCSSC. Two more dredgers are preparing to enter the dredging site.
At the moment, work on the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Channel has been temporarily suspended due to the deterioration of weather conditions. A storm warning has been announced in the Caspian Sea, the wind is up to 25 m per second. Dredging will continue after the weather conditions improve.
In total, up to 18 dredgers, including 6 vessels of the enterprise's own fleet, will be involved in carrying out repair dredging throughout the VCSSC in 2023. For the current year, dredging operations in the amount of 12 million cubic meters are tentatively scheduled at VCSSC, twice the rate of 2022 (5 million cubic meters).
According to the results of the work on the development of the VCSSC, by the end of 2023, the passage of vessels with a draft of at least 4.5 m, indicated in the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, will be ensured with the preservation of certain sections of one-way traffic of vessels. In 2022, FSUE “Rosmorport” provided passage of vessels with a draft of 4.2 m.
All dredging works at the VCSSC are carried out in accordance with the project of repair dredging works in the channel water area for the period up to 2027. In the future, based on the results of the analysis of the vessel traffic intensity, as well as a detailed assessment of environmental aspects for the Volga River delta, a decision will be made on the need for additional work to ensure two-way traffic of vessels along the entire length of the channel.