Polish parliament backs Baltic Strait canal project to

[JustJohn or JJ]

Polish parliament backs Baltic Strait canal project to allow ships to bypass Russian waters

Published time: 24 Feb, 2017 21:02


The lower chamber of the Polish parliament has voted in favor of constructing a channel across the Baltic (Visla) Strip to allow the country’s vessels to enter the port of Elblag without crossing Russian territorial waters.

The law, which was supported by 401 out of 460 MPs at the Sejm, now requires approval by the upper house, the Senate.

Last May, the government of Poland made the decision to build a channel, connecting the Vistula Lagoon and the Gdansk Bay on the Baltic Sea.

It’s planned that the channel will be about 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles wide) and around 5 meters (16 feet deep) to allow vessels of up to 20 meters (65 feet) wide and with maximum draft of 4 meters (13 feet) to access Elblag port.

The construction work on the $216.6 million project is expected to start in 2018 and completed in four years’ time. The route, which the channel will take, is yet to be determined.

The government explained that the project is essential for the defense and security of the Polish state.

“It is impermissible for an eastern border of the EU and a NATO border to be 100 percent under Russian control, for security to be threatened that way. This is the main argument we will put to the
EU and which will be met with full understanding,” Marek Grobarczyk, Poland's minister of maritime economy and inland navigation, said last year.

The project will go ahead despite environmentalists' warning that the construction would disrupt the migration routes of various animal species.

“The canal construction plan will be carried out in compliance with EU law… and above all with environmental norms,” Grobarczyk added.

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Currently, the ships have to go through Russian territorial waters to enter Elblag, which is regulated by a special navigation deal signed by Moscow and Warsaw.

[Jaga]

John,

you always find some interesting news.... I spent three summers in this area, in Mierzeja Wislana, called in English Vistula Spit and in German: Frische Nehrung. I was there with scouts almost at the end of Polish region, near Piaski. There was not many people, the beach was perfect with lots of amber. We also had many Soviet planes flying over our heads, which was not nice since they behaved as like they owned this area. We heard supersonic loud noise a lot, since they were flying too low and too fast.

here is a movie about the area, you can see the map:


and here is Wikipedia info

[karl]

J.J.

This is a very interesting proposition that Poland has. It would cut quite a distance in time sailing through the cut in the stead of travel time around. Poland should not make this a political proposition though against the Russians, but simply a more efficient maritime use of the land/sea route for cost cutting in fuel and time.

The presented values of depth and width was interesting, but more important, is the keel distance from the bottom at low tide and what safety depths are added in the case of an untimely low tide..

Even though a ship may have valid depth from keel to bottom, it is to the ships master to maintain safe speed so as not for the propellers to prop wash the bottom and risk damaging the blades through sucked up rocks/sand/silt with over powering the water way.

With as the above, is the need for controling vessel use. This means monotoring the vessel{s} to keep safe for all maritime transport. Ship masters from some of these Eastern ports are known for their reckless sailing procedures and wanton disregard for maritime laws of the sea/ pumping the bilges too close to land-disregarding safety measures with not reducing speed close to land/bow cutting in disregarding safety of both ships whilst entering and leaving a crowded port.

Karl