FSUE “Rosmorport” acts as the general partner of the VII Hydraulic Engineering Structures and Dredging International Congress which in being held on February 27-28 in Moscow.

To give visitors more information about modern vessels of the dredging fleet, a model of Nikolai Rusanov, a non-self-propelled high-performance cutter-dredger, intended for work on the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal (VCSSC), has been presented at the extensive exposition of the enterprise, displayed on the sidelines of the congress. The vessel is at the final stage of construction now and will replenish the enterprise’s fleet as soon as the second quarter of the current year. The exposition also features advertising and souvenir products, which were included in the participant’s portfolio as well, and notebooks with up-to-date information about the FSUE “Rosmorport” dredging activities.

The event was organized by the PortNews leading industry media group, which, at the opening of the congress, expressed gratitude to the enterprise and other industry communities for many years of support and fruitful cooperation. FSUE “Rosmorport” has been supporting the International Forum of Dredging Companies for 11 years by now, the event being held as a two-day congress since 2018 due to the expansion of the topics discussed.

The first day of the congress opened with a plenary session “State Policy in Hydraulic Engineering and Dredging Works”. Among the key speakers of the session, there were Konstantin Anisimov, Deputy Head of Rosmorrechflot, Vladimir Abornev, Deputy General Director for Capital Construction of FSUE “Rosmorport”, leaders of industry communities and port business, as well as Russian industrial enterprises. During the discussion, delegates presented advanced engineering solutions and scientific studies, standard projects for the construction of technical fleet, discussed the most important tasks, specifics of the participation of contractors in tenders, and the possibilities of attracting government funding and preferential lending to the industry.

“We have a large country, a large inland waterways network: over 101 thousand km,” Konstantin Anisimov emphasized. “The Volga River has always been a place of extensive dredging. A whole series of project 4395 vessels have been built, our administrations have already received 4 dredgers, and they are successfully operating at different sections of inland waterways. One of them was transferred to FSUE “Rosmorport” to participate in the work at VCSSC. Two dredgers – of the Kama and Volga-Don administrations – also carried out subcontract work for the enterprise."

FSUE “Rosmorport” performs dredging operations in accordance with the design documentation, which undergoes state environmental expertise as prescribed. In 2023, the enterprise ensured the canal draught of 4.5 m at VCSSC leaving certain sections of one-way traffic of vessels. Large-scale work on the development of VCSSC was carried out in accordance with the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the navigation of 2023, an unprecedented number of vessels were concentrated on the canal: 18 dredgers, including 7 vessels of FSUE “Rosmorport” own fleet, and up to 40 units of the auxiliary and support fleet. The volume of dredging at the end of last year amounted to 10 million cubic meters.

“Today, there is an active discussion of the new program “Transport”, which features a large block dedicated to the seaports,” Vladimir Abornev said. “For now, its filling and discussion is under way, yet, investors are ready to cooperate and continue to invest. To date, the volume of investments is estimated at around 400 billion rubles, about 100 billion rubles of which are federal budget funds, while the rest are private investments.”

Vladimir Abornev noted the active development of the eastern direction:

“It makes a significant part even in the new 2025-2030 program. So far, the expected increase in capacity is projected to reach around 220 million tons by 2030. I hope the program will be supported at the level of the Russian Government. As for the volume of dredging, it is something without which the development of ports and increasing of the carrying capacity of the fleet is impossible. FSUE “Rosmorport” annually extracts about 15 million cubic meters of soil during repair dredging. As for the volume of dredging within investment projects, today they are tentatively estimated at about 35 million cubic meters until 2030.”

On February 28, the congress agenda includes reports on hydraulic engineering construction in Russia and ensuring safety of water transport hydraulic structures, IT, remote-piloted vehicles and underwater operations. You can follow the work of the participants online at the portal of the event organizer.

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The Hydraulic Engineering Structures and Dredging International Congress annually gathers over 400 delegates, including major customers and successful performers of underwater engineering works. In 2024, the meetings are dedicated to the implementation of federal programs for the development of seaports, infrastructure of the Northern Sea Route and inland waterways of Russia. With the withdrawal of large global dredging companies and suppliers of high-tech equipment from the Russian market, the industry has met the strong necessity of import substitution of underwater technical works in hydraulic engineering construction, which are the most expensive stages of any water transport infrastructure project. This determines the high importance of the issues raised on the sidelines of the congress.