Cutting through the Spit – current photos and a video from a drone

For several weeks now, works on the investment “Construction of the waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Gulf of Gdańsk” have been underway. After the site was handed over to the Contractor, i.e. the Polish-Belgian consortium of NDI and Besix, the construction was fenced. A specialist company entered the investment area and dealt with the removal of so-called ferromagnetic objects. The remains after World War II included mainly shells, cartridges and boxes with ammunition. Facilities, i.e. construction offices, have been constructed on the premises of the investment as well.

At present, large-scale cleaning and preparatory works are underway, related to the execution of the unloading quay located in the sea part of the cutting. Supplies of materials for the construction of the quay have begun. Preparatory earthworks are also carried out throughout the area. They will be continued for the next few months.

‘In February, the construction of the southern (unloading), connection quay and a part of the shipping channel quay will commence,’ says Dominik Wróblewski, Construction Manager from the NDI/Besix consortium. The entire structure will be dedicated to the needs of delivering building materials by sea. We want to minimise transport of materials by land.

Director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia, kpt. ż.w. Wiesław Piotrzkowski (master mariner), emphasises that the traffic organisation during construction is a major issue for the Investor. ‘We are guided by two key assumptions, that is the maximisation of transport of building materials by sea and the minimisation of disruption during summer.’

The current state of the investment site can be seen in the photos and video from the construction site.

The investment “Construction of the waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Gulf of Gdańsk part I” includes the construction of protective harbour from the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk, the construction of a shipping channel with a lock and the construction of closures together with waiting stations from the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Vistula Lagoon, a new road system with movable steel bridges rotating around a vertical axis, which will allow passage over the channel in front of the lock and behind the lock; and the construction of an artificial island located in the Vistula Lagoon.

The shipping channel will be 1-kilometre-long and five-metre-deep. Ultimately, it is to enable vessels with a draft of up to 4 metres, length up to 100 metres and width up to 20 metres to enter the port of Elbląg. The construction of the channel through the Vistula Spit is to be completed in 2022. The investor is the Maritime Office in Gdynia, and the contractor is a consortium of NDI and Besix.