On August 8, Andrey Tarasenko, Head of Rosmorrechflot, Vladimir Abornev, Deputy General Director for Capital Construction of FSUE “Rosmorport”, and Apandi Nurmagomedov, Director of the FSUE “Rosmorport” Astrakhan Branch, took part in the meeting of the Council for Maritime Activities under Governor of the Astrakhan Region Igor Babushkin. The meeting was dedicated to the interim results of the work of the Astrakhan Region port complex and the development of the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal (VKSSC).

As Vladimir Abornev said in his report, the total length of the sections for dredging for the current year was about 50 km, by now there was 20 km left.

Soil scooping is carried out both by the enterprise's own forces and with the involvement of contractors. To date, 9 dredgers have been involved in dredging, and in the near future it is planned to increase the group to 11 vessels.

To reduce the sediment accumulation at the VCSSC, the enterprise has developed design documentation for the construction of protective structures in the marine part of the canal. The implementation of the project will minimize the operating costs for maintaining the VCSSC by reducing the sediment accumulation at the canal bed and the annual volume of dredging repairs due to the construction of protective structures. Protective structures in the form of a protective dam with a core of geobags will improve conditions for navigation and the environmental situation at the canal, ensure safe navigation of vessels with a draught of up to 4.5 m and leading of large-sized facilities to the Caspian Sea. In order to drain water from the VCSSC, it is also planned to arrange a relief canal with a length of 1,290 m and a width of 100 m along the bottom.

In 2023, at the instruction of President of Russia Vladimir Putin, FSUE “Rosmorport” carried out dredging operations in the marine part of the VCSSC in the amount of over 10 million cubic meters, as a result of which a canal draught of 4.5 m was achieved. Last year, an unprecedented number of vessels were involved in the work: more than 40 units of dredging and auxiliary equipment, including 18 dredgers.

The integrated dredging at the canal is an important part of the global project for the development of the North–South transport corridor. Work at the VCSSC is carried out in conditions of a significant drop in the level of the Caspian Sea: about 1.5 m for the period of 2006-2024.