The delegation of FSUE “Rosmorport”, headed by General Director Sergey Pylin, took part in a meeting with Igor Babushkin, Governor of the Astrakhan Region, dedicated to the results of work on the development of the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal (VCSSC) conducted in 2024 and plans for 2025.

In 2023, a canal draught of 4.5 m was achieved at the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal. Igor Babushkin noted that, by the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this result should be maintained in order to keep positive dynamics in cargo turnover and the ability to operate voyages with maximum load.

The governor specified that the volume of cargo turnover in the seaports of Astrakhan and Olya had amounted to 5.7 million tons this year, exceeding the figures for the same period last year by 39%.

“Our region is a key logistics hub of the North–South transportation corridor, through which goods go to Azerbaijan, Georgia, India, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and many other countries. At the same time, we continue to increase our transshipment capacities and actively develop the port special economic zone,” Igor Babushkin said.

“In 2024, 13 dredgers and 10 auxiliary vessels were involved in dredging operations, and more than 6.8 million cubic meters of soil were extracted. In the next navigation season, we plan to extract 8.7 million cubic meters of soil,” Sergey Pylin said.

The head of the enterprise added that during the development of the VCSSC, the project for the construction of protective structures was near completion and the construction of an unloading canal in order to reduce its drift was underway.

During the meeting, Igor Babushkin expressed gratitude to FSUE “Rosmorport” for making the decision to allocate an additional icebreaker to the region to ensure uninterrupted winter navigation at the VCSSC and in the waters of the seaports in the region.

Icebreaker Kapitan Zarubin of the North-Western Basin Branch of the enterprise arrived to work at the VCSSC in order to strengthen the icebreaking fleet in the Caspian basin. Currently, four icebreakers of FSUE “Rosmorport” are in a state of readiness: Kapitan Bukaev and Kapitan Chechkin are on duty on the canal, Kapitan Zarubin and Kapitan Metsayk are awaiting orders from the Headquarters of icebreaking operations in the seaports of Astrakhan and Olya.

The meeting participants also noted the important role of Astrakhan shipbuilders in the development of the canal – the region is becoming a center for the construction of a dredging fleet. Currently, Stroyliderplus LLC specialists are constructing two milling dredgers for the needs of FSUE “Rosmorport”, similar in characteristics to the Nikolay Rusanov dredger, which joined the fleet of FSUE “Rosmorport” in 2024.

The comprehensive dredging at the canal is an essential part of the global project for the development of the North–South transportation corridor. Work at the VCSSC is carried out in conditions of a significant drop in the level of the Caspian Sea: it amounted to about 1.5 m in 2006-2024.