Seven dredging ships deployed for operation on Sea Canal in the Gulf of Ob
The scope of dredging completed this navigation season has exceeded 2 million cbm of material
As of 29 July 2021, dredging works on the Sea Canal in the Gulf of Ob involved 7 units out of 8 ships planned for operation. The scope of dredging and dumping works commissioned by FSUE Hydrographic Company has exceeded 2 million cbm of material, Hydrographic Company told IAA PortNews. The General Contractor is Mordraga LLC.
The agreement on reconstruction of Sea Canal under the priority projects on development of the Northern Sea Route was signed on 24 April 2020. The term of the agreement is up to 15 November 2022.
Prior to the works of 2021, Hydrographic Company provided the General Contractor with all the permits required for the construction works. Mordraga LLC, in its turn, obtained permits for operation of foreign-flagged ships in internal waters of the Russian Federation and arranged deployment of dredging and support ships for the project.
Preliminary detailed survey of the bottom was started by the General Contractor together with the customer’s construction inspectors on 9 July 2021, immediately after ice clearance on the Sea Canal, says Hydrographic Company. The first 5 TSHD ships came to the site on July 19 and the dredging works began.
Under the agreement, the General Contractor had purchased 24 buoys for installation in the area of works.
In July 2021, the release of young muksun and broad whitefish was held by the General Contractor to compensate for the damage to aquatic bioresources. The project on the Siberian sturgeon release is underway. The first phase of environmental monitoring and control was completed prior to the beginning of dredging works.
It is planned to dredge 16.1 million cbm of material in 2021.
“The works conducted on the Sea Canal under the Agreement over the short ice-free navigation season of 2020 totaled 32.5 million cbm (versus planned 26 million cbm), which is a national record in terms of dredging works executed throughout the navigation period”, said Hydrographic Company.
The works on the Sea Canal will be performed in two phases: Phase 1 – up to 15 November 2021, Phase 2 – up to 15 November 2022. The total scope of dredging is estimated at 59.8 million cbm.
Phase 1 foresees expansion of Sea Canal to 475 meters and shaping of the second turn on the canal with the total length of the canal to reach 51.6 km. It will be 15.1 meters deep (with the depth of 16.5 meters at the CDP basins and 15.5 meters at the turn). The scope of dredging under Phase 1 is estimated 48.6 million cbm.
Phase 2 envisages dredging works to expand the canal to 573 meters having maintained its length of 51.6 km. The scope of dredging under Phase 2 is estimated at 11.2 million cbm.
The Sea Canal reconstruction will ensure safe navigation while gradually increasing the transit passage for gas carriers including the period of unfavorable meteorological conditions when ice drifts in the navigation area in winter.
Photos by FSUE Hydrographic Company
