September 17, 2022 18:45
Today, Saturday, Poland inaugurated a canal that allows it to reach from the Baltic Sea to the port of Elblag in the north of the country, without passing through Russian territorial waters.
Before that, in order to reach the high seas, ships leaving Elblag to reach a hatch near the town of Beltisk across the Kaliningrad Bay, had to sail along a peninsula partly belonging to Poland and partly to Russia, from which permission had to be sought for crossing, which Warsaw wanted to avoid him.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said, during the opening ceremony of the channel, “It was necessary to build this path so that we would no longer have to ask for the approval of a state.”
Currently only small ships can cross the waterway through this channel. It is supposed, according to the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure, that ships of 100 meters in length, 20 meters in width and 4.5 meters in draft will eventually be allowed to reach the port of Elblag, 25 kilometers away.
The dredging and development of various transport infrastructures are expected to be completed by September 2023, and the total project cost is estimated at two billion zlotys (420 million euros).
Source: Reuters
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