Manych Ship Canal

The Manych Ship Canal is a canal system between the basins of the Sea of Azov, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea. Proposals are being considered to expand the system into a larger Eurasia Canal system. The canal would be a multipurpose water-resources system and an important part of the national transport system serving internal and international Caspian oil traffic, with huge economic potential for the region. A proposed design would enlarge the Manych Ship Canal to a depth of 6.5 m (21 ft) and width of 80 m (260 ft) with traffic capacity for more than 75 million tons per year. This proposed Eurasia Canal would allow passage of vessels with a freight-carrying capacity of up to 10,000 tons. Russia's unique geographic location and transportation infrastructure does not correspond economically to the current logistics of Russian and foreign trade.

Projections for development of the freight turnover in southern Russia prepared by the Central Research Institute of Economy and Water Transport Exploitation show a steady growth trend of foreign-trade freight traffic, including water transport. The Volga-Don Ship Canal, constructed in the 1950s, is approaching its traffic capacity limit of 14.8 million tons. The Manych Ship Canal is one of several variants of water transport connection being considered between the basins of Azov-Black and Caspian Seas to improve the transport performance in the Caspian region, including southern Russia.

The 700 km (430 mi)-long Manych Ship Canal includes the existing Manych Waterway through Lake Manych-Gudilo and the Veselovskoe and Proletarskoe reservoirs, and could be extended to the Caspian Sea via the sparsely populated steppes of Kalmykia. The watershed divide between the Azov and Caspian seas has a western slope elevation of 27 m (89 ft) and an eastern slope elevation of 54 m (177 ft). The Gidroexpertiza expert center of hydraulic facilities safety estimates this divide can be surmounted by construction of three or four shipping locks of low pressure on the western slope, and three average pressure or six low pressure shipping locks on the eastern slope. Construction of six low pressure shipping locks on the eastern slope of the watershed could significantly reduce the volume of earthwork and lower fresh water requirements by a third, to approximately 1.5 cubic km.

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