Vladimir Abornev, Deputy General Director for Capital Construction of FSUE “Rosmorport”, and Apandi Nurmagomedov, Director of the FSUE “Rosmorport” Astrakhan Branch, took part in a meeting of the Council for Maritime Activities under the Governor of the Astrakhan Region on December 15, 2023.

The meeting, chaired by Igor Babushkin, Governor of the Astrakhan Region, was also attended by Konstantin Anisimov, Deputy Head of Rosmorrechflot, Ilya Volynsky, Minister of Industry, Trade and Energy of the Astrakhan Region, Alexander Vakhnin, Head of the Border Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Republic of Kalmykia and the Astrakhan Region, Nikolay Kovalev, Acting Head of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Administration of Caspian Sea Seaports”, representatives of other organizations and interested bodies-members of the Council.

During the council meeting, the issue of dredging on the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal in 2023 and plans for 2024 were discussed.

In the course of the meeting Vladimir Abornev reported that in 2023 FSUE “Rosmorport” carried out dredging works in accordance with the order of the President of the Russian Federation and to ensure safe navigation of vessels with a draft of 4.5 m. The amount of works, according to operational data, is about 10 million cubic meters with the length of limiting areas of about 50 km.

Dredging operations were carried out with the involvement of 18 dredgers, 7 of which were Rosmorport's own fleet, and up to 40 units of dredging and auxiliary fleet, including towing, measuring and other vessels. As a result of the works it was possible to ensure safe movement of vessels with draught up to 4.5 m along the entire length of the VCSSC with preservation of separate one-way traffic sections.

The enterprise's plans for 2024 include the expansion of one-way traffic sections and the continuation of dredging operations to maintain the required depth of the VCSSC. It should be noted that dredging is carried out in conditions of intensive channel drift and annual drop of the Caspian Sea level. In order to reduce drift in the sea part of the Canal, FSUE “Rosmorport” is constructing protective structures with a total length of 7.5 km. Structurally, the containment structure is a geo-container barrier dam filled with dredged material excavated during maintenance dredging. Currently, the work has been completed for 3 km. In accordance with the design decisions, measures have been taken to create a fish passage channel in the area of 147 km of the VCSSC.

The Governor of the Astrakhan region, Igor Babushkin, emphasized the importance of maintaining the navigational depths of the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal to ensure safe navigation in the waters of the seaports of Astrakhan and Olya due to the fact that this waterway is a strategically important infrastructural object of the Russian economy for one of the directions of the international North-South transport corridor and the Astrakhan water transport hub. The steadily functioning canal creates the conditions for the development of the Caspian resource base, the expansion of Astrakhan port capacities and the development of the seaport of Olya.