“The shipping canal through the Vistula Spit is an expression of a strong and independent Poland. It is more than just a simple transport route. It carries a very long and important history that has a serious impact on what is happening today,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Facebook after the opening of the canal on the Vistula Spit.
Today, the first and most important part of the investment involving the construction of a waterway between the Gulf of Gdansk and the Vistula Lagoon was launched. For the first time in Poland’s post-war history, it is possible to enter the Vistula Lagoon freely, bypassing the Russian coastal zone and without having to ask permission from the Russian Federation.
Prime Minister Morawiecki on the opening ceremony of the shipping canal through Vistula Spit pointed out that Poland symbolically broke the last bonds of our dependence on Russia
“We are opening a shipping canal through the Vistula Spit today. It is a route of freedom and new opportunities. Today, we symbolically break the last bonds of our dependence on Russia. It is happening on the 83rd anniversary of the USSR’s invasion of Poland,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said today.
PM @MorawieckiM: We are opening a shipping canal through the Vistula Spit today. It is a route of freedom and new opportunities. Today, we symbolically break the last bonds of our dependence on Russia. It is happening on the 83rd anniversary of the USSR’s invasion of Poland. pic.twitter.com/nDuAHsoEXD
— Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (@PremierRP_en) September 17, 2022
twitter.com/PremierRP_en
The shipping canal through the Vistula Spit was officially opened today. In his speech, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed that the canal is “a road of freedom, new opportunities and new possibilities.”
He also emphasised that the Baltic Sea is a great opportunity for the Republic of Poland. “The Baltic Sea gives us an incredible development opportunity,” he said, adding that this must be used.
The aim of the investment is, among other things, to increase the economic attractiveness of the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship, and in particular of Elbląg and its port, as well as of other ports on the Vistula Lagoon. The waterway to the Baltic Sea, which currently runs through the Pilawa Strait, will be significantly shortened, by almost a hundred kilometres. The new infrastructure solution is expected to be an engine for the economic development of the entire region.
When all the work is completed, which is planned for 2023, the waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Gulf of Gdansk will allow vessels up to 100 metres long and 20 metres wide with a draught of 4.5 metres to enter the port of Elbląg.