FSUE “Rosmorport” has ensured the achievement of a 4.5 m draft on the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal (VCSSC) with the preservation of certain sections of one-way traffic.

Large-scale works on the development of VCSSC were carried out in accordance with the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. An unprecedented number of vessels were concentrated on the canal during the navigation of 2023: 18 dredgers, 7 of which were own vessels of FSUE “Rosmorport”, and up to 40 units of the auxiliary and support fleet.

Dredging is currently in process in some areas prone to re-sedimentation due to autumn storms. The enterprise has also started preparing the fleet for the dredging in 2024.

According to operational data, the volume of dredging at the end of this year is amounted to 10 million cubic meters. During the year, the volume has been adjusted due to the results of repeated measurements in the limiting areas and analysis of the actual dimensions of the сanal.

In previous years, dredging at the VCSSC was just over 3 million cubic meters, in 2022 - 5 million cubic meters. The volume of extracted soil has increased due to the drop in the Caspian Sea level by 20 cm per year for the last three years.

As part of the comprehensive measures for the development of the canal, the enterprise is also carrying out works on the construction of protective structures at four sections to prevent drifting of the VCSSC, as well as a discharge canal. The length of the protective structures, which are soft polypropylene containers (geobags) filled with soil extracted during repair dredging, is amounted to 7.5 km.