Dig the Vistula Spit. The last section of the waterway to the port in Elbląg will be built

Less than a kilometer of the waterway to the port in Elbląg was not previously covered by the program called “Construction of a waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Bay of Gdańsk”. Government PISfor which the waterway through the Spit was a strategic investment, did not envisage the construction of the last section to the port of Elbląg. He wanted this part to be built by the Elbląg local government. After the parliamentary elections, the new coalition government announced that it would complete the last 900 meters to the port of Elbląg.

As informed by the spokeswoman of the investor, i.e. the Maritime Office in Gdynia, Magdalena Kierzkowska, in January last year The Ministry of Infrastructure commissioned the Director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia to prepare design documentationnavigation analysis and technical expertise. – The idea is to determine the necessary investments to enable the completion of the waterway and the use of the port infrastructure in Elbląg – she added.

– This is the fifth stage of construction. This is the implementation of works on a section of the waterway on the Elbląg River, approximately 1 km long, i.e. from point P2 (located at the fork of the Elbląg River and the Jagiellonian Canal) to the Port point (located at the level of the European Union Bridge). This section was not previously covered by the “Construction of a waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Bay of Gdańsk” program – emphasized Magdalena Kierzkowska.

She added that on the last day of December last year, an announcement of a tender for the development of design documentation for the construction of a waterway on the Elbląg River on the section from point P1 to the Port point was published on the platform of the Maritime Office in Gdynia, along with author's supervision.

The fairway is to be 36 m wide and 5 m deep in sections from point P1 (at the level of the sewage treatment plant) to point P2 (at the fork of the river and the Jagiellonian Canal) and from point P2 to point Port (located at the level of the European Union Bridge). The banks are to be strengthened and a turntable with a diameter of 160 m is to be built at the fork of the Elbląg River and the Jagiellonian Canal.

The Maritime Office in Gdynia added that since January 2024, work has been carried out on deepening the Elbląg River, carried out as part of the fourth stage of construction of the waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Bay of Gdańsk. The scope of the contract includes the construction of another section of the waterway with a depth of 5 m. On the section P1 (at the sewage treatment plant) to P2 (at the fork of the river and the Jagiellonian Canal), tests and cleaning of the bottom of ferromagnetic obstacles (e.g. scrap, reinforced concrete elements) were also carried out , large-size obstacles, historical military remains). Continuation of the work is partly planned for this year.

The total length of the waterway from the Bay of Gdańsk through the Vistula Lagoon to Elbląg is almost 23 km, including the passage through the Vistula Lagoon itself is just over 10 km, and on the Elbląg River – also over 10 km. The remaining approximately 2.5 km is a section that will include a lock, an external port and a parking lot. The canal and the entire waterway will ultimately be 5 m deep.