Saimaa Canal

The Saimaa Canal ( _fi. Saimaan kanava; _sv. Saima kanal; _ru. Сайменский канал) is a transportation canal that connects lake Saimaa with the Gulf of Finland near Vyborg, Russia. The canal was built from 1845 to 1856 and opened on September 7, 1856 (August 26 OS).It was overhauled and widened in 1963-1968.

A system of inland waterways and canals in the 120 interconnected lakes of the south-central and south-east part of Finland (Finnish Lakeland) are reached through the canal. The length of deep channels in Lake Saimaa "(with an authorised draught of 4.2 m or 14 feet)" is 814 km (506 miles). The deep channels extend to Kuopio in Central Finland.

Layout

The canal begins near Lappeenranta, Finland (coord | 61.078569 | 28.273444 | region:FI_type:waterbody | display=inline) and ends in Vyborg, Russia (coord | 60.810599 | 28.736984 | region:RU_type:Waterbody | display=inline), connecting Lake Saimaa and the Vyborg Bay. On the way, it connects Lake Nuijamaa, on the Finnish-Russian border, and three smaller lakes in Russia.

Dimensions

* Length — 42.9 kilometers (26.7 miles) (19.6 km (12.2 miles) — Russian part of the canal, 23.3 km (14.5 miles) — in Finland)
* Width — from 34 to 55 meters (110 to 180 feet)
* Total lift from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Saimaa — 75.7 meters (248 feet)
*The maximum dimensions allowed for a ship transiting the canal are:
** Length: 82.0 meters (269 ft)
** Beam (width): 12.2 meters (40 ft)
** Draft 4.35 meters (14.2 ft)
** Height of mast 24.5 meters (80.3 ft)
* 217 boundary pillars between Canal Rented Zone and main territory of Russia.

Locks

There are three locks in the Finnish part of the canal
* Mälkiä
* Mustola
* Soskua

Other five locks situated on the Russian side of the border:
* Pälli (coord | 60.907227 | 28.615179 | region:RU_type:Waterbody | display=inline)
* Ilyistoye (former Lietjärvi) (coord | 60.893306 | 28.622904 | region:RU_type:Waterbody | display=inline)
* Cvetochnoye (former Rättijärvi) coord | 60.881817 | 28.650756 | region:RU_type:Waterbody | display=inline)
* Iskrovka (former Särkijärvi) (coord | 60.832155 | 28.73661 | region:RU_type:Waterbody | display=inline)
* Brusnichnoye (former Juustila) (coord | 60.810667 | 28.737316 | region:RU_type:waterbody | display=inline)

Mälkiä Lock has highest lift — 12.4 meters (41 feet), Cvetotchnoe Lock has the lowest — 5.5 meters (18 feet).

Bridges

The canal crosses
* 12 motor vehicles bridges:
** 6 of them in Finland – 3 movable and 3 immovable
** other 6 in Russia - 4 movable and 2 immovable
* 2 railroad bridges (one on the each side of the border), both of them are immovable.

History

The canal, inaugurated in 1856, was built between the cities of Lappeenranta and Viipuri (now Vyborg, Russia), both of them then in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in Russian Empire.

In the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, the Karelian Isthmus and the city of Vyborg were ceded to the Soviet Union, thus effectively splitting the canal in half and ending all traffic.

A treaty in 1963 leased the Russian part of the canal area and the island of Malyj Vysotskij (Ravansaari) to Finland for fifty years. A new deeper canal was constructed by the Finns and it opened to traffic in 1968. The length of the canal itself is 42.9 km (26.7 miles).

Negotiations to extend the lease time beyond 2013 are presently underway between Finland and Russia.

External links

* [http://www.fma.fi/e/leisure/canals/saimaa.php Finnish Maritime Administration] - Saimaa Canal