Saimaa Canal

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Mälkiä lock near Lappeenranta with raft formation

The Saimaa Canal , inaugurated in 1856 , leads from Lake Saimaa through Finnish and Russian territory to the Gulf of Finland . It was always important for the transport of the wood processing industry . The construction work lasted from 1849 to 1856 and was largely planned and supervised by Nils Ericson .

Maly Vysotsky, Vyborg, Saimaa Canal

The length from Lappeenranta to the Brusnitschnoje lock near Vyborg (Russia) is 42.93 kilometers, of which 19.60 kilometers are on Russian territory. The difference in altitude is 76 m. Eight locks level the waterway , on which ships with a load capacity of 2,000 to 2,500 tons can operate. According to the dimensions of the locks, ships may not exceed the dimensions of 82.50 meters in length, 12.60 meters in width, 4.35 meters in draft and 24.50 m in clearance ( Saimax ).

When the armistice was agreed by Moscow in 1944 after Finland was involved in the continuing war with the USSR , part of the canal area fell to the USSR as a result of the territorial cedings. After the fate of this previously closed waterway seemed sealed, with the development of good neighborly relations it became possible again to open the canal to traffic by the Soviet Union opening the section that was on USSR territory to Finland in 1963 50 years leased .

The contract was replaced by a new one on May 27, 2010, which again has a term of 50 years. In the new contract, the previously included island Maly Vysotski is no longer leased by Finland. In 1962, both sides signed a contract that also provided for modernization and reconstruction. Six years later, the shipping route, which had been improved by construction workers and engineers from both countries, was reopened. Since 1991 you can also sail the canal as a tourist with your own boat or with excursion boats.

literature

  • Helmut R. Külz : The Finnish-Soviet Treaty on the Saimaa Canal . In: Zeitschrift für Wasserrecht , 1964, pp. 22–31, ISSN  0044-3735 .
  • M. Radloff: Talking about lease extension for Saimaa Canal . In: Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung , Vol. 57 (2003), p. 8, ISSN  0342-166X .

Web links

Commons : Saimaa Canal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 60 ° 59 ′ 33 ″  N , 28 ° 29 ′ 24 ″  E