Vistula Spit shipping channel opens

Two days ago, the navigation channel through the Vistula Spit peninsula in Poland was officially opened, marking the end of the project for BESIX and joint venture partner Grupa NDI.

The geopolitically important project significantly reduces the distance between the port of Elblag and the Baltic Sea, making the port more accessible to maritime traffic.

The Maritime Office of Gdynia awarded the contract for the construction to the BESIX-NDI joint venture back in 2019.

The works included:

• construction of a navigation channel through the peninsula,

• two breakwaters of respectively 1,014 m and 568 m long,

• two rotating steel bridges with lock infrastructure,

• sluice gates, buildings and a new road system.

On top of that, a 180 ha artificial island was created with the excavated earth, which will now serve as a protected shelter for birds.

The navigation channel is 1.3 kilometres long and has a varying width of 25 to 120 metres.

Vessels with a draught of up to 4.5 metres, a length up to 100 metres and a width of up to 20 metres are able to pass, as well as barges of up to 180 metres.