Manych Ship Canal - Projections For Development

Projections For Development

Projections for development of the freight turnover in southern Russia prepared by the Central Research Institute of Economy and Water Transport Exploitation shows a steady growth trend of foreign-trade freight traffic including water transport. The Volga-Don Ship Canal constructed in the 1950s is obsolescent and approaching its traffic capacity limit of 14.8 million tons. The Manych Ship Canal is one of several variants of water transport connection between basins of Azov-Black and Caspian seas being considered to improve the transport situation in the Caspian region including southern Russia.

The 700 km long Manych Ship Canal includes the existing Manych Waterway through Lake Manych-Gudilo and the Veselovskoe and Proletarskoe reservoirs, and could be extended to the Caspian Sea via sparsely populated steppes of Kalmykia. The watershed divide between the Azov and Caspian seas has a western slope elevation of 27 m and eastern slope elevation of 54 m. The “GIDROEXPERTIZA” expert center of hydraulic facilities safety estimates this divide can be surmounted by construction of 3 or 4 shipping locks of low pressure on the western slope and 3 average pressure or 6 low pressure shipping locks on the eastern slope. Construction of 6 low pressure shipping locks on the eastern slope of the watershed can significantly reduce volume of earthwork and lower fresh water requirements by a third, to approximately 1.5 cubic km.

There are several possible ways to supply the Manych Ship Canal with water:

• 1. Complete the Volga-Chograi Canal as a pipeline to reduce evaporation and seepage losses.
• 2. Using wind-generated electricity to pump fresh water up along the eastern cascade of the main canal from the mouth of the Volga river.
• 3. Impounding and transferring through existing canals peak flows from upper reaches of the Kuban and Terek rivers to reduce frequent flooding along these rivers.

The first and the second methods would restore to the Sea of Azov the volume of fresh water diverted to the Don River via locks on the Volga slope of the Volga-Don Shipping Canal.