A 1.3 km long Vistula Spit canal built by a Polish maritime authority has been opened. Thus, it will allow ships to go from the Baltic Sea to the Vistula Lagoon through Polish seas rather than Russian ones.
The Vistula Spit peninsula, which runs from Gdańsk in Poland to Kaliningrad in Russia, divides the Vistula Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The Pilawa Strait near Baltiysk used to be the only route for ships to travel through the Russian seas. This is in order to reach the Polish port of Elblag on Vistula Bay.
To make it easier for ships to enter the port of Elblag, the Maritime Office of Gdańsk made the decision to cut a canal through the Polish side of the Vistula Split. The Besix-NDI joint venture was given the contract in 2019 to build the canal.
The Vistula Spit canal project
The scope of the Vistula Spit canal project included two breakwaters that were 1 km and 568 m long, two rotating steel bridges, buildings, and a new road system. The width of the 1.3 km navigation channel ranged from 25 to 120 m.
The JV chose to reinforce the breakwaters using precast concrete blocks that interlock on all sides, called XblocPlus. This block type’s central hole, which makes installation easier, is one of its distinguishing features.
The contractors claimed that this approach was more environmentally friendly than other blocks. This is because it required 50% fewer blocks to complete the project and less material to create them. The breakwaters were strengthened using about 10,000 XblocPlus pieces. The client was concerned with environmental mitigation and sought to reduce the construction’s negative environmental effects. The Besix-NDI joint venture created a 180ha (1.8km2) artificial island using excavated earth that would act as a bird sanctuary.
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Improve activity at the port of Elblag
For the sake of aquatic life, marine equipment was modified to lessen noise, vibrations, and waves. To minimize disturbing nocturnal creatures, the use of light, noise, and vibration has also been rigorously constrained. Two animal crossings through the waterway as well as 100 bird and 57 bat dwellings have been put in place.
The Maritime Office of Gdańsk anticipates that the Vistula Spit canal will improve activity at the port of Elblag. It will also help the local economy. The new waterway may be used by boats with a draught of up to 4.5 meters, lengths up to 100 meters, widths up to 20 meters, and barges up to 180 meters.
