United Deep Waterway System of European Russia

The Unified Deep Water System of European Russia () or UDWS () is a system of

inland waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is necessary bet ...

s in Russia linking the

White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...

, the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

and—via the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...

—the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. In 2010, UDWS carried 70 million tons of cargo and 12 million passengers, making up two-thirds of overall inland waterway traffic volume in Russia. There are 60 common-use ports and quays in the UDWS, including three international ports (two in Moscow and one in Dmitrov, Moscow Oblast), so Moscow is sometimes called "the port of the five seas". The depth is mostly guaranteed at only and some sections are even shallower, such as Gorodets–

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

at and Kochetovsky Bagayevskaya at . There are plans to increase depth of these sections to 4 m. The system includes these waterways: *

Neva River The Neva ( , ; , ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it is the fourth-l ...

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

Svir River The Svir (; ; Karelian and Finnish: ) is a river in Podporozhsky, Lodeynopolsky, and Volkhovsky districts in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows westwards from Lake Onega to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest l ...

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...

Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva. Like the Volga–Don Canal, it is part of the Unified Deep Water ...

— connects Lake Onega to the Volga River; built in the early 19th century as Mariinsk Canal System and rebuilt in 1956–1964 (ships 210x17.6x4m) *

White Sea–Baltic Canal The White Sea–Baltic Canal (), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (), is a man-made ship canal in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. It connects the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with Lake Onega, which is further connected to the Baltic Sea. U ...

— connects Lake Onega to the White Sea; constructed in 1931–1933 (ships 135x14.3x3.5 m) *

Moscow Canal The Moscow Canal (), named the Moskva–Volga Canal until 1947, is a canal in Russia that connects the Moskva (river) with the Volga. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast. The canal connects to the Moskva River in Tushino (an ...

— connects Moscow to the Volga River; constructed in 1932–1937 (ships 290x30x5.5m) *

Kama River The Kama ( , ; ; ), also known as the Chulman ( ; ), is a long«Река КАМА»
Russian St ...

* Belaya River *

Volga–Don Canal Lenin Volga–Don Shipping Canal (Russian language, Russian: Волго-Донской судоходный канал имени, ''В. И. Ленина, Volga-Donskoy sudokhodniy kanal imeni V. I. Lenina'', abbreviated ВДСК, ''VDSK'') is a ...

— connects the Volga River to the Don River; constructed in 1948–1952 (ships 141x16.8x3.6) *

Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...

Lock dimensions

A limiting factor for the size of vessels that can use the waterways are the dimensions of the locks, which vary somewhat throughout the system. In particular, the route from St Petersburg to Rybinsk Dam (via the Volga-Baltic Waterway) accommodates vessels with the length of up to 170 m, the width of up to 16.8 m, and the draught of up to 3.6 m, with the space of at least 14.6 m available under bridges. From the Rybinsk Dam to the mouth of the Volga (Streletskoye), the guaranteed sizes are length 280 m, width 28.50 m, draught 3.10 m, with at least 11.70 m of space available under bridges.

Environmental impact

In 1999, the warty comb jelly colonized the Caspian Sea via the UDWS. The establishment of this population led to a 60% reduction in the number of

sprat Sprat is the common name applied to a group of forage fish belonging to the genus ''Sprattus'' in the Family (biology), family Clupeidae. The term also is applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish (''Clupeoides'', ''Clupeonella ...

, which in turn led to a reduction in the population of

sturgeon Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

and seals. In total, according to the unified federal/state agency CaspNIRKh (), about 60 alien species of plants and animals penetrated into the Caspian Sea in the 20th century, which has led to significant changes to

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.trend.az/life/socium/1779130.html , title=Борьба против вредоносного мнемиопсиса в водах Каспия дала первые результаты - минэкологии , trans-title=Initial Results in the Fight Against the Malicious Mnemiopsis in Caspian Waters – Ministry of the Environment , author=Zarina Akhmedova , date=November 8, 2010 , work=Trend News Agency , accessdate=September 14, 2016 {{in lang, ru {{cite web , url=http://www.vil21.ru/1242992129.php , title=РЕШЕНИЕ – Пленарного заседания Научного консультативного совета по комплексному использованию водных ресурсов и охране водных экосистем по вопросу: "Экологические последствия предлагаемых вариантов строительства второй нитки Волго-Донского водного пути или канала "Евразия" (18 марта 2009 г., г. Москва) , trans-title=Decision – Plenary meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Integrated Water Resources Management and Protection of Water Ecosystems on the Issue: "Environmental Impact of the Proposed Options for the Construction of the Second Line of the Volga-Don Waterway or Canal" Eurasia "(18 March 2009, Moscow) , date=March 18, 2009 , work=Water and the People: 21st Century, publisher=Water Safety Science and Technology Center {{in lang, ru Water transport in Russia

External links

Russia Waterways mapDimensions of China inland standard ships, 110x16.2x3.5 is one of themHandbook on Technical Barge Concepts, Baltic Sea Region, European Union
including route & ice calculations
Siberaian pre-railroad waterways-routes

Lock dimensions

Environmental impact

See also

References

External links