Agreement on the construction of a shipping channel through the Vistula Spit signed

The agreement on the construction of a shipping channel through the Vistula Spit was signed on Friday in Elbląg. The new waterway connecting the Gulf of Gdańsk with the Vistula Lagoon will be built for PLN 992 million by a Polish-Belgian consortium of NDI and Besix.

The signing of the agreement in the presence of the Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation Marek Gróbarczyk was done by the Director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia, the captain of the Great Navigation Wiesław Piotrzkowski and representatives of the Polish-Belgian consortium, the President of NDI Małgorzata Winiarek – Gajewska and the regional manager of Besix, Nic de Roeck.

The consortium will build a shelter port on the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk, a shipping channel with a lock and a structure of locks together with waiting stations on the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Vistula Lagoon and an artificial island on the Vistula Lagoon.

According to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, the construction of a new waterway is to improve access to the Elbląg port and guarantee Poland free access from the Vistula Lagoon to the Baltic Sea, bypassing the Russian-controlled Piława Strait.

The shipping channel through the Vistula Spit is to be about 1 km long and 5 m deep. It will allow ships with a draught of up to 4 m, 100 m long and 20 m wide to enter the Elbląg port. The construction of the canal will last until 2022.

author: Agnieszka Libudzka

Photo: Sławomir Lewandowski

rel: PORTALMORSKI.PL