Potential Shipping Route
The route of the canal, as usually proposed, would follow the thalweg (the lowest-ground line) of the Kuma-Manych Depression. From the Caspian Sea westward, the canal route would follow:
- The lower course of the Kuma River (a shallow, partly dry river which flows toward the Caspian), on the border of Dagestan and Kalmykia
- A new canal through the steppe, possible following a section of the present Kuma-Manych Canal (an irrigation canal bringing water from the Terek River and the upper Kuma River to the East Manych),
- The East Manych,
- The West Manych, which flows toward the lower Don via Lake Manych-Gudilo, Proletarsk, Vesyolovsk, and Ust'-Manych Reservoirs. A shallow (1.3 m) navigable waterway already exists there.
- From the confluence point of the West Manych and the Don, the ships would follow the same route as used by the existing Caspian-to-Black Sea navigation, i.e., less than 100 km down the Don until its fall into the Sea of Azov, and then across the Sea of Azov and the Strait of Kerch into the Black Sea.
Read more about this topic: Eurasia Canal
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