Astrakhan Branch News

Acting Director of the Astrakhan Branch takes part in a meeting of the Council for Maritime Activities under the Governor of the Astrakhan Region

The Acting Director of the FSUE "Rosmorport" Astrakhan branch, Yuri Michurov, took part in the meeting of the Council for Maritime Activities under the Governor of the Astrakhan Region on July 28, 2020.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Industry and Natural Resources of the Astrakhan Region Denis Afanasyev, acting Minister of Health of the Astrakhan Region Olga Agafonova, representatives of other organizations and state control and supervisory bodies – members of the council.

At the meeting, the council members discussed the creation of a port special economic zone in the region, the documents on the creation of which are currently undergoing the approval procedure in the relevant state authorities.

The creation of HSEZ will make it possible to intensify the development of the international transport corridor "North-South", to increase the volume of cargo flows passing through the seaports of Astrakhan and Olya.

The development of HSEZ is planned on the basis of berths No. 8 and No. 9 of the FSUE "Rosmorport" Astrakhan branch in the seaport of Olya, and then, as the PSEZ develops, in ilmen Zaburunny.

During the meeting of the council, the issue of dredging works on the Volga-Caspian sea shipping channel was considered.


The Acting Director of the Astrakhan Branch Yuri Michurov said that in view of the negative trend of lowering the level of the Caspian Sea, intensive drift caused by flood, storm and surge phenomena of the sea channel, there is a need to increase the annual volume of dredging operations in order to provide a navigation depth of 5.1 meters for safe passage of ships along the canal. If in 2019 the Astrakhan branch extracted more than 2.8 million cubic meters. m of soil, then for 2020 the planned volume of 3.9 million cubic meters. m.

Almost 1.4 million cubic meters of bottom soil were extracted by the forces and technical means of the Astrakhan branch in the period from April to July 2020 at the limiting sections of VCSSC (Volga-Caspian sea shipping channel) 125-135 km, 142-157.5 km and 160-168 km, which amounts to 36% of the planned volume of work for 2020 as a whole. As of July of the current year, the pace of maintenance dredging is in line with the dredging schedule and has not been lagged behind.

Repair dredging works in the water area of the VCMSC (Volga-Caspian Marine Shipping Channel) are carried out both by our own dredgers "Petr Sablin", "Artemy Volynsky", "Ivan Cheremisinov" and "Urengoy", and with the involvement of vessels of other organizations, in particular, the dredger "Baltiyskaya".

To reduce the drift of VCMSC and the cost of dredging, FSUE "Rosmorport" is completing the design of the "Protective Structures of the Volga-Caspian Sea Navigable Canal" facility, the implementation of which will begin in 2021.

In addition, this year the Astrakhan Branch purchased and successfully put into operation the latest hydrographic equipment, which makes it possible to dramatically increase the speed of monitoring the limiting sections of VCMSC in order to promptly respond to emerging difficult situations with sediment, especially after the winter period and floods.

Governor of the Astrakhan Region Igor Babushkin emphasized the importance of maintaining the navigation depths of the Volga-Caspian shipping channel to ensure safe navigation in the waters of the seaports of Astrakhan and Olya and noted the need for a separate meeting to discuss the entire range of issues related to performing dredging works at VCMSC.