The Vistula Spit. The dredging of the shipping canal has begun. The first units are to sail in 2022

A spokesman for the Maritime Office in Gdynia, Magdalena Kierzkowska, informed the media that dredging works had begun on the shipping canal of the Vistula Spit. – For this purpose, we imported a dredger, one of the most modern in Europe and the most modern in Poland. In the near future, we plan to use a dredger to build a part of the canal to the northern airlock, and then move it to the south side and make a part up to the lock’s gates, informed Mariusz Sasin, representative of the consortium carrying out the excavation. And he added: – In the final, at the end of this year, after the lock gates are assembled and put into operation, we will fully dig the shipping channel.

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According to Kierzkowska, in July the works on the cut were carried out according to the schedule. She stated that the reinforcement and concreting of the bottom of the shipping canal lock have already been completed. – The walls are currently being reinforced and concreted. In the southern part of the canal, reinforcement of the lock pockets and circulation canals are carried out, as well as concreting of circulating canals – Kierzkowska informed and added that thanks to this it was possible to start deepening the canal on the navigation canal.

Since the southern bridge has been ready for a month, work is currently underway on the construction of the northern bridge – including its steel structure. Thanks to both of these bridges, when the ship passes through the canal, it will not be necessary to stop the car traffic.

During the heat of July, the construction of the ditch across the Vistula Spit focused on the works performed on land: the pile driver works on the eastern breakwater were completed. – 921 running meters of bulkheads were completed. Currently, pile driving works related to deepening the wall on the head are in progress. At the same time, erratic works are being carried out. Half of them have been executed so far – Kierzkowska informed.

She also reported that on the artificial island, which is to become a bird sanctuary, work was being carried out on driving sheet piling. – More than a half, i.e. 715 ties, have already been installed. Works related to dredging works and filling the island dyke are in progress. A hydrotechnical stone layer was made on the technical lane in 12 sections – this is 20 percent of the planned range. A hydrotechnical stone overlay was also made on the slope in two sections and the sheet piling was cut in one section, the spokesman of the Maritime Office reported.

Recently, the construction of electrical and teletechnical installations in the Captain’s Office building, the construction of power lines for the southern bridge and the gates of the southern side of the lock as well as electricity and automation of the southern bridge have also been completed. The lighting installation of the southern bridge and the roads leading from it towards Sztutów and Krynica Morska were also made.

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The contractor of construction works under the project entitled “Construction of a waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Bay of Gdańsk – part I” is the NDI / Besix consortium. The investor is the Maritime Office in Gdynia.

The first vessels are to pass through the new shipping channel next year, and the target shape of the investment is to be achieved in 2023. Marek Gróbarczyk, the former minister of maritime economy and inland navigation, and currently the secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure, also confirmed this in his online entry.