@@Matti_us_Alpe, that's a good question. I looked it up. Apparently Baltic seawater by way of the Gulf of Gdansk supply ~85% of the horizontal water supply (rain being vertical) into the Vistula Lagoon, all of it through the Strait of Baltiysk, the Strait being the Poles' only way into the lagoon before they built the canal. The water levels between both estuaries, the Gulf & the lagoon, are normally less than 0.8 meters' difference unless there are windstorms. In heavy storm conditions with high winds, though, the water level in the lagoon could reach as high as 1 meter above Sea level, which would damage parts of the lagoon. There are 2 reasons to build the locks. They built the locks to keep exchange of the Gulf's & lagoon's respective waters to as bare a minimum as possible. This preserves the lagoon's salinity level. The second reason is storm control. The wind storms I mentioned can raise the lagoon's water height to as much as 1 meter above Sea level, potentially flooding the lagoon polders (sp.) which help the locals control against river floods (the Vistula River, the 9th longest River in Europe, empties into the lagoon). An opened canal can use the different water heights to allow the lagoon an emergency outflow to the Gulf, keeping the flood-control polders undamaged. I learned a lot looking up the answer for your question! Thanks for asking.
@@Matti_us_Alpe First of all, don't say or write, "To be honest". It infers that you are a liar most of the time. Secondly, there was absolutely no need for the lock. It is a piece of gross over engineering, insisted upon by the Brussels/Bruxelles Mafia to help their grasping friends. Instead of asking about the lock, perhaps you could ask why a Belgian construction company was foisted on the Poles adding dramatically to the cost. If they had asked me, I could have designed and project managed a canal for them a/ WITHOUT A LOCK b/ draft only limited by the depth of the lagoon, 3/ allowing for at least 24 ships each day in each direction. Sunshine does not say whether his ships are 12 in each direction or 12 in total each day and, without those concrete spiders, only a fraction of the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere and for less than one tenth of the cost of this thing Their excuse for the lock is that the AVERAGE level of the water in the lagoon is marginally higher at this point than the AVERAGE level of the water in the open Bay of Gdansk. There is an inference on the video that the Vistula flows into the lagoon causing this difference, the water having to flow many miles to the North-East to flow out of the Russian passage. The Baltic has hardly any tidal range. There are, however long shore currents in the Baltic which have lead to sediments from the big rivers forming these huge sand bars. The eventual passage of these rivers to the open sea is therefore obstructed by their own sediment. The draft of barges on the Vistula is seriously restricted by sand bars in the river during the Summer months. The Vistula has snaked across the coastal plain and changed its' course frequently. At various times, it has entered the sea though this lagoon but it doesn't anymore. Having entered the Baltic about 19 miles (30 kms) to the West of the lagoon for a few centuries, a more direct route has been hard engineered and the Vistula now enters the Baltic about 14 miles (22 kms) to the West of the lagoon. Contrary to what is stated in the video, the canal is not called "The Vistula Canal", it is "Kanał żeglugowy. Nowy Świat" which literally translates as "Canal Shipping New World". Although the lagoon is open to the sea at the Kaliningrad end and in theory, the water should be at the same level, there is a tendency for water to pile up a little at the upper ends of inlets and estuaries, and although the Vistula does not enter the lagoon, there is some drainage from lesser water courses. Don't misinterpret the film at 5.58. That showed the water being allowed through the coffer dam for the initial filling of the lock when construction of the lock was complete. There was also a question about different cyanobacteria in the water on each side of the spit. I say "Sod the cyanobacteria !" My answer would have been to have great chunks of rock (20 tonnes ...many full freight containers weigh more) quarried from somewhere up the Vistula and brought down on barges. The rock could then have been laid in the Sea and in the lagoon in the shape of fans and creating a funnel across the spit about 10 times wider than the existing canal. A narrow channel could have been cut across the spit down the centre of the funnel. As soon as there was a connection between the lagoon and the Sea, using the differential in water level the canal would have done nearly all its' own dredging with the sand carried out into the the sea with the rock subsiding and being augmented as necessary to provide a hard banks for the canal .... NO CONCRETE !!! If aby of the rockk chunks were dislodged in an occasional violent storm (This is the Baltic, it isn't the Atlantic), then a crane barge could be used to put them back in place. The dredging could then have been finished off with mechanical dredgers, ideally spreading the sand on the landward side of the rock banks. Until such time as the level in the lagoon falls to the level of the sea the canal would have self-dredged and any sandbank that may become a nuisance could be dredged and the material dumped behind the rock flares. During construction, a temporary pontoon bridge could have been built to carry the very small number of vehicles that use the spit road . It is a dead-end road running for about 15 miles (23 kms) serving a few small settlements along the spit terminating close to the Kaliningrad border. Bearing in mind the small amount of traffic that uses the bridges(which have been built at monstrous cost, I would have constructed a concrete barge 60 ft (18 m) wide and 400 feet (a little over 122m) long. This would be the floating bridge. Piers would be built out into the canal with a waterway between them of 425 ft (130m) The bridge would be anchored to one pier and using a floating cable from the bank, the loose end of the bridge could be allowed to float into position using the gentle current and metal ramps lowered into place to allow use of the road and then pulled out of the way to allow passage of ships. When the current isn't enough, a small tug would do the job. Because there is so little traffic using the bridge, I suggest that the bridge should be in place for 3 hours for road vehicles and then 3 hours for the ships ... or, if the number of ships was not great, 4 hours for the road and 2 hours for the ships. People on land would know exactly when the bridge would be open for them. On the basis of alternating 3 hours, the ships would have 90 minutes out and then 90 minutes in. This would leave 4.5 hours at a time when ships could not use the canal but passage would be far faster than using the stupid lock and a lot faster than using the Kaliningrad passage if travelling to or from the West. I hope this answers your question and a bit more.
Yeah and this love for animals and our planet… they really love nature even more than königsberg‘s native citizens who got thrown out by those war criminals
It created an artificial island in the lagoon, which is planned to be a bird habitat. The island is tentatively named the Aestian Island, after the ancient Baltic tribe that lived in the region
@@hia5235 In the 1850s a huge storm created a 150 metre wide channel in the peninsula into Lake Ontario by Toronto thus creating an island. That island still seems to be doing just fine. In fact better than it would be doing if it was a peninsula because if it had still been a peninsula when the age of the car arrived people inevitably would have built a road from the mainland across the entire piece of land and humans would have ended up disturbing it much more.
Poland is an independent nation, with its own identity and people that should be able to do whatever they want within their territory. My home, my home renovations.
Not every infrastructure project needs positive rate of return. There plenty of examples of train routes that are not profitable but are needed to connect rural communities.
Or standing armies. Those rarely turn out financially beneficial, but still for some strange reason most countries in the world prefer having one of their own.
I think that a sensible 650-year down-pay plan to break even is worth it just to make Mordor slightly upset. Most of us are happy with some inconvenience to avoid interacting with moronic bullies daily. I quote: ""Never argue with idiots; they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." Well played Polish friends. Well played.
@@droopy_eyes it literally shortend the route to the Baltic sea for one of the largest Polish ports and made possible Russian interference impossible. That alone makes it worth building 5 times over.
Funny how aggressive nations often get concerned with another country's economic well being, environmental concerns and social well being whenever they act independently.
@@VladimirPutin-p3tIf only their generosity could be repaid by allowing every single russian national to enter a care free permanent nap in a...communal dirt bed.
Minor detail: Those funny shaped blocks for the breakwaters were designed in the Netherlands for the upgrade of the Afsluitdijk. On a recent video about that upgrade, it was mentioned that these blocks were going to be used world wide, nice to seen an example.
It is not the first time we see Dutch activity in the area. Entire Vistula estuary ( Zulawy ) was managed by Dutch immigrants in XV and XVI century. They built an extensive system of canals, locks and dams and reclaimed some areas below sea level.
The Dutch are masters at pushing back against the power of the Sea starting with the huge Zuider Zee Project. When I was a young boy my family visited the Dutch Coast and we heard and about the immensity of the project. I lived very close to the Alden Hydraulics Laboratory of Worcester (Massachusetts) Polytechnic University where they had single buildings dedicated to layouts of the hydrology of such projects including nuclear power stations.
Good to hear. Never got to Poland and perhaps to old to go wandering. Love to see things being built and making a difference in communities across the world.
Back in the mid-90s, when I was a child, maybe 6 years old or so, my mother told me she would take me on a boat ride through a lock in Hamburg, Germany. We did it, and it was nothing special to me then. Today I look at it as a very fond memory, and I think it was a very cool thing for her to take me to :)
To explain: we have ports for cargo in Szczecin, Świnoujście, Gdynia, Gdańsk and maybe Kołobrzeg can be modernized. This canal is not for big cargo because Elbląg is not for that.
Anyone know why Poland didn't opt to build a lock big enough to handle all sizes of modern cargo ships? Seems like a minor difference over a distance of only 1km. The entire thing seems unpractically small.
Simply beacuse it wasnt needed. Main cargo ports are in Gdansk and Gdynia that are already right next to the baltic sea. That canal was built simply to allow locals to travel with their boats without russians standing on their way
There is no real need for this canal - Elbląg (Poland) is not a crucial port. Currently, the canal is used by several private boats/kayaks a day, which incurs a cost of $10,000 per unit. Probably, its strategic significance is the biggest clue.
Elbąg is just low priority and not so big port. Vistula lagoon is just not so deep for big ships. There is plan to make it a bit deeper so port can utilize full use of this canal. And currently Poland is increasing throughput of much better located ports on east Gdańsk/Gdynia only 60 km away and Szczecin/Świnoujście on most western part of sea side.
Investments by governments don't always need to make their money back. It's about what they enable. What does this one enable? Free passage of ships without interference from a foreign state who aren't the best neighbours. Whats the monetary value of that?
@@garryferrington811 Freeways can increase economic activity which then increases tax revenue. Just because there are no tolls involved doesn't mean that the government doesn't see a benefit.
you kind of overstate the importance of Elbląg port. its in fact a pretty small port, thats why the canal that was built is small too. overall it wont have an enormous impact for polish economy, but removing any russian control over our country is always a good thing
The artificial island they made here is an excellent example of working with the planet in development. In this case the land of the Vistula spit is home to nesting grounds for many bird species. Running the canal through it destroys some of that available area but building the artificial island very close nearby negates the habitat loss. In fact it looks like once the island is complete it will provide 3 or more times the land than was used for the project. Overall the species reliant on the spit, Humans, and migratory birds get what they want out of the project. The poles get a canal and the birds get a new but local and probably even safer nesting site. Yes it will take a few years for that benefit to be realized but its a solid plan overall.
@MrGunnar69yeah ngl looking at the video thought it woulf be something more interesting but it honestly just seems extremely pointless and a waste of money that can go towards other stuff
Elblag was an important port in medieval times. For example it was exempted from taxes when trading with United Kingdom. A substantial number of Englishmen lived in the city.
This detail bothered me too. Both waters are sealevel and they literally meet several kilometers north. How could they be different levels if none of them is river that is higher. THX I thought I was going crazy thinking I'm alone on this one.
@@petrnemec1421 Polish opposition (at the time) was against this investment. BTW God knows why... So they tried to push all buttons available like envinronmental objections, etc. They were against cutting trees (feeble and weak at this point), advertising some special bugs and plants that will suffer if the canal was to be build, etc. Therefore - to avoid constant beating the eco-madness-drum the investor decided to put up a lock.
I think they will be a little different most of the time because of the way high tides sweep along the coast line and the current natural passage in Kaliningrad will restrict the flow in to and out of the Lagoon.
@@huw3851 More or less. I suppose mainly storm prevention. With northern storms the water can rise...and flood some part of that land if not blocked by those water doors.
Another interesting fact is that yachts can pass by on their way to the Masurian lakes. According to information from the Maritime Office, over 1,300 yachts have passed through so far.
Masurian lakes are not suitable for sea yachts - too shallow waters. Apart from that the only water connection between Great Mazurian Lakes Route and Baltic Sea runs not through Elbląg, but through Gdańsk, Wisła river, Narew River and Pisa River. Pretty long way round possible only for boats with very little submergence, not sea-ready yachts.
@@jacek5384 What is the water depth there? E.g. catamarans frequently have drafts of less than 1.5m. If you don't want to go under bridges, you don't even have to unstep the mast.
@@realulli To all the way from the Wisła River outlet upstream through Wisła, Narew and Pisa rivers to Great Masurian Lakes Route one will need a boat with submergence rather like a kayak. That shallow there, particularly Pisa River very shallow river. From Elbląg port one can go by water to another part of Masurian Lakes, not really popular for yachting and smaller lakes. Anyways not suitable for seaborne yachts or any boat with submersion more than about 50 cm.
thats false the biggest thing that can pass through the canal are kayaks but even then due to the amount of paperwork that has to be done its faster to just carry them across next to the canal
@@mickimicki It was under German rule for a longer time than it was under Polish rule. More importantly, though, Germans founded the city, not the Poles.
The flow through the connection between the lagoon and the sea depends on the difference in water levels. The greater the difference, the greater the flow. Ignoring short term fluctuations including tides, the lagoon has inputs of direct runoff from land and from rivers. The output is through the connection across the spit. The average difference in water levels will stabilize such that the inputs equal the outputs. If the connection were wider, the water level difference would be less and if the connection were narrower, the level difference would be greater.
A canal is like a road, only it runs on water. Poland did right to build a road that is short and independent of Russia's moods. In this way, several small ports were connected, enabling the development of these regions, which are also very beautiful for tourism. There is no problem in going on a beautiful holiday trip in a small or larger boat.
7:20 - I'm afraid that "medium ship", in international commerce, means something more substantial. With 4 meter limit on draft the canal cannot accommodate anything seagoing - that's the job of nearby ports of Gdunya and Gdansk.
First realistic approach in comments - new channel is too shallow, past and present vessels movement didn't require such an investment. More efficient and needed might be setting sailing route through Vistula river from Gdańsk to Bydgoszcz / Solec Kujawski to distribute goods from Gdansk/Gdynia real seaports
So why Gdansk is still being extended? :) The main purpose of Elblag is supporting role to big Gdansk or Gdynia. Armatures of smaller ships can use cheaper harbor, or store load for longer time there. Simply a bit different clients can be serviced in Elblag.
There are no different levels between lagoon and the Baltic see. It cannot be as the material itself did mention that lagoon connects naturally with the Baltic on the russian side. The locks are there to avoid to much salination of the lagoon.
@@aoilpe The water level in the Baltic Sea can change by plus/minus 1 meter depending on the wind direction, and even more during a storm. Due to only a small breakthrough in the Russian part, the water level in the huge lagoon does not change as quickly as in the Baltic Sea, so a lock is required.
The fact they built that in just five years with only that much money is amazing to me after hearting about so many modern infrastructure projects going horribly. Poland stronk.
2:13 for the usual destination it's like 30-40km shorter. That's not worth mentioning. This is geopolitical project, no eventual cost savings entered the calculus
I am Russian. And I am happy for this cool engineering feat, done by Polish. I wish poland long peace and prosperity. Hope I could 1 day visit it as a tourist.
Very close to it is the large and dynamically developing port of Gdańsk. He eats everything that flows to Königsberg. Elbląg is to stimulate the north-eastern part of Poland, (Warmia and Masuria) is one of the poorer parts of Poland. Additionally, the clogged port in Gdańsk will be able to redirect smaller vessels to Elbląg. Historical curiosities: The Third Reich produced Seehunt submarines in Elbląg.
My father who is from Elbląg was talking about it ever since I was born and probably before that too as the talks and the idea to build this was made well over 50 years ago. They started on the job 1 year before my father passed so he didn't witness the completion.
A very logical canal location. How easy/difficult will it be to make it bigger to suit large ships? And was the island designed to be a wildlife habitat or does it have another purpose?
It might just be a nature compensation measure. Either because of legal requirements, or because it unlocked additional subsidies. Large infrastructural projects are often required to 'offset' the ecological disturbance that they cause. Creating a new habitat could have been such an offset measure.
The location is illogical because literally nobody needs that canal. The only reason to build it was too steal public funds by the former criminal government.
Idea is that birds will nest on that island, and they needed to dump all that sand somewhere. There is a plan for a second island from deepening waterway to Elbląg port, at the moment there is legal battle about who should pay for it, local or central government. As for the size of canal itself, there is no need for bigger one, and likely never be as Elbląg port is rather small and expanding it would cost too much. Personally I would rather see those money spent on expanding port of Gdańsk, or building container terminal in Szczecin but on the other hand it may be needed for military use unfortunately.
@@varoonnone7159build by germans and filled by fench railways what prodditroffited by transporting jews to the camp for death. Btw your famous buildind notre dam cathedral burned because you cheap busterds hired few muslims to do Simple work. ..and Poland have the tallest sky scraper in EU.
There is simillar canal in South Korea. Because the mouth of the Han River was the border with North Korea, Ships can't enter Seoul directly. Although there was controversy, Korean government completed a canal called 'Ara Canal' in 2012. However, because the port city of Incheon exists next to Seoul, not many ships enter Seoul through the canal there.
I must sat that I'm used to native English speakers having truly atrocious pronounciation of Polish names, to the point where I myself as a Pole could not guess what they are trying to convey, so when I heard you saying "Elbląg" and it was absolutely 100% spot on, to say I was taken aback woud be a massive understatement, I guess it took some practice, nice mate. Now to the core, yeah there was a discord from local officials of whether they're gonna be responsible for deepening the track, but once that is settled, it's all cool. As for the russian objections, well there is only one good place for them, trash bin. By the way, there is one great project in the works here right now called CPK (Central Communication Port), it's gonna bring together air, rail and roads. You'd be more than welcome to make a video about it! Cheers~
I was there in the summer of 2023. The canal is done very nicely and has some “wow” factor to it. Quite impressive. Our first stay in poland, driving from Denmark.
650 years payback does not make sense. Back of envelope calcs: $450M project 450 million divided by 650years = $692K per year Divide by 365 =$1,900 per day Divide by 12 ships that currently pass through daily and that is $158. Therefore if they charge $158 per ship that are using the canal it would take 650 years to pay off the $450M project. I assume they are charging many factors of magnitude more than this So it can’t be right. I know this is simplistic but illustrates the point. Also, anyone correct me if I got this logic wrong.
I think you didn't include the ongoing costs of operation and maintenance, which will obviously be orders of magnitude more money than the original investment, as you can see it's far from a passive system.
12 ships daily CAN pass through it. It's the capacity, not usage. Real number is about one per day which is far from breaking even (someone has to maintain it) - but it's predicted to somewhat increase
@@vomm You build it for your own money, then you may say it's unmeasurable. Public investments need to make sense and have a practical purpose. You can't just explain it with some sovereigninty propaganda, when the country is dependent on its neighbours thousands of times more in other areas, like fossil fuels for electricity and transportation.
@@Tarets Hm every public buildings has flagposts in front of it. Funded by public investments. How can it be, what's the explanation, what's the measurable benefits of flags besides entrances? Same with the Royals or represential presidents. Or a lot of other things which only exist for national identity / propaganda / souvereignity.
There are other similar story-projects: to connect the island of Uznam and the town of Świnoujście with with the rest of Poland, reunited at last. And in Łodź, Poland's 4th largest city located in the middle, there is a tunnel built to connect two different rail networks... an overlooked project since 1918... when the country was reunited from three parts.
Every river that empties to the sea is connected to the sea. And every river that connects to the sea is at a higher level than the sea, if you go back upstream a few km. This lagoon is, in that sense, like a big river. It is fed upstream by streams, rivers, and runoff.
my guess would be because the open area is too small to allow all water needed to equalise the difference between high and low tide through every 6 hours.
Just to give some more information - it's not like Elbląg is a huge port, it's rather on the smallest scale. But still canal gives some more oportunities.
Can someone explain why the bay and the lagoon have different water levels? The lagoon is connected directly to the Baltic Sea, at which point the water level becomes in the lagoon than the sea?
I don't know the details, there may be other reasons for the gates. But although the tidal effect in the Baltic Sea is only a few cm it's still a lot. The Wisła Lagoon has an area of 834 km² so for each cm of tide almost 1.4 million m²/hour has to pass through the two canals on average.
Without the locks, as the tides rose and fell in the Baltic Sea, it would cause a current through the narrow opening which would be dangerous to shipping.
The water level varies on both sides due to wind, tides and currents, the loch raise or lowers in both directions as needed. Also if they did not have lochs the current through the channel would be very strong, swapping directon with the tides, navigational and erosion problems would become issues. There are no pumps or seperate sources of water needed because it is just equalizing the water level depending on which direction the ship is heading.
I live in Warsaw and seeing 7:59 this cityscape makes me really happy that despite the history Poland has managed to record an economic growth over the past 30 years, getting to the point we make multi billion investments and Become an attractive business hub for companies like Deloitte, Microsoft, Google etc.. I hope this had work won’t get ruined..
Even a relatively small marsh throttled by an ocean inlet will see a significant time lag between water levels. For a straight-through canal, that can mean a strong current, persistent silt buildup, etc.
The Germans couldn't accept it. Germany is prohibited by its own constitution to take in more land. In case you find this weird, just read up on German history, from the German Empire (1871) until the end of World War II. So even if someone *wants* to give Germany any land, that option is ruled out.
Случайно вылезло это видео и я не удержался почитать польские комментарии, это всегда пикантно, и не настолько тошнотворно как украинские или грузинские, хотя и схоже по нарративу. Короче говоря чисто из мазохиских побуждений я зашёл поизучать чужое злоё торжество. К своему удивлению я поразился, что вы стали намного вежливее и толерантнее, чем ещё недавно, и вас не так сильно распирает от русских! Конечно тут же вылезли и грузины (они везде, где упоминают что-то назло Путину). Так держать! Молодцы! Канал красивый, пусть он принесёт много пользы. Желаем вам процветания да благополучия.
Не знаю, на каждого более-менее адекватного поляка найдется десять русофобов такой крепости, что как в анекдоте - пускай Польшу грабят лишь бы за компанию пограбили и Россию. Да и первые всё равно в той или иной мере выражают мысль "пускай сотни миллионов на ветер, лишь бы не российское". Короче говоря, если прогресс и есть, то для полного выздоровления всё равно потребуется ещё много времени.
This is total idiocracy - there is a 20x times larger Polish port just in 30 km distance, called Gdansk. Why would anyone want to use Elblag port ever?
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq Yes but they already had all of the men and equipment in place.....doing the digging....building the lock. I can't get over the fact that they wasted the opportunity to do it right the first time. Now it will cost WAY more to correct the first design.
You should be concerned about yourself, Lithuanians. Soon there will be nothing left of your country, and even Russian influence will not be needed here.
Nice of you to explain canal locks to those unfamiliar with canals. The same system is used on small canals built to carry mule-towed barges in the US in the 19th century, like the C & O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal, where the locks still work.
The Poles knew long before 2022 that no free country should depend on Russian gas. Therefore, they also built a LNG harbor and now get their supply from the Emirates and the USA. The Yamal gas pipe is closed, but not the one connected to Norway.
yk that exporting gas through pipes instead of ships is not only much cheaper, but also much more environmentally friendly. I'm not saying nations should completely depend on it, but declining an offer like that is plain stupid
Jesus Christ, do you people hear yourself? "No free country should depend on Russian gas" yes, they should depend on American gas which is many times more expensive and transported in much less ecological manner. Ask Germany if that worked out for them.
"each block had a hole in the middle to reduce water pressure and increase stability throughout the wall" Can anyone link to/explain how these blocks work? i'm very confused as to how the hole in the blocks help anything 4:21
After some googling, no paper I've found offered any further explanation on why the hole in Xblocplus 'reduces wave pressure' on the blocks below, but the second major reason for the hole is that 'it makes the pick-up, transport and placement of the block much easier - the application of the blocks is thus substantially quicker and safer.' ; ' This hole is used for fast and very efficient placement with a clamp.'
I try to learn something new everyday. I never heard of the country Kaliningrad or the Vistula Canal until watching this video. A nice video. Thanks for sharing.
Canal itself is to this day a pretty controversial topic in Poland. Its detractors say that it's fully political project with no prospects of turning profit, while its supporters say it strengthend Polish sovereignty and created new jobs, as well as gave Polish engineers much needed experience. And in this case I'd say the truth lays in the middle. Not between r*ssian propaganda and Polish claims.
Imagine that you live with someone in an apartment. And this person blocks you from using the part of the apartment that you own. What are you doing? You take a hammer and hammer down the door. And that's exactly what we did. We have opened up new possibilities.
A country should be allowed to do what it wants to its own land and shouldn't be pressurised by dictators who have already got the biggest land mass in the world to play with. I think they've done a good job, well done Poland!
As a Pole from the region of the canal: building a new cargo train line or extending existent between Gdynia (major port hub; 90km away) and Elbląg (city behind the canal) would be faaar more cost effective. The project was more of manifestation of political will, then economical decision.
PiS wanted to piss off Tusk in his own backyard and get political backing on a long neglected area. Elblag has always suffered from being overshadowed by Tri-City's presence around the corner.
I love how explaining a simple, widely used thing as a "lock" (we call it a "sluis" in the Netherlands!) is needed. To the Dutch, it is just something nearly everyone knows. You did a very good job of it! The swinging bridges are also quite common here, especially in city centres. But for an out of the way project like this it feels like it would make more sense to go for a very high un-openable bridge (on mounds of earth on either side). Since it's not a harbour area for loading and unloading ships, the space on either side isn't needed for anything else. You could even make them slightly bigger, and have a nice park on the rises, with maybe a cafe on one of them. :) I am sure ecologists can help ensure that that doesn't negatively impact the local environment, and I am sure that a bird sanctuary can be formed on the side that doesn't have a cafe.
If it's ok to ask, is "sluis" pronounced "sloos"? The reason I ask is that, on the canal system in the UK, we call the installation itself that allows a vessel to move between water levels a "lock", but the little mechanisms that open to physically change the water level inside the lock "sluice gates" or "sluices". It'd be really interesting if that linked the Dutch name to the British name 😊
@@t-and-p Hello! I'm not sure if English has an "ui" sound. It is one of those Dutch "we need more vowels, so lets just mash two together and give it a sound that isn't quite what you'd expect" double-vowels. But I can tell you it is not the same sound as in English. However, they both have the same origin; the latin word "exclusus"; to exclude. English language etymology sites tend to favour French as the source. But since in old French it is "escluse", and the earliest Dutch use of such a word was "sluse" (borrowed from French), later changed to "Sluis", and seeing that around that time English adopted the "Sluice" spelling, it seems likely that they got it from Dutch engineers working in England (who could do wonders, like pump out moors with windmills, that the English could only dream of). I fear I sound pedantic when I say this, but as for the naming; the whole thing is a sluice, and the sluice-gates are simply the gates on the sluice. So you'd be accurate calling it a Lock or a Sluice. A Dutch person would call the gates "sluice doors" (sluis deuren). :) And as for Dutch influenced English words; I would guess that about half of them are. The rest are French or Norse. :D
Head to brilliant.org/TheB1M/ for a 30-day free trial + the first 200 people will receive 20% off their annual subscription 🏗
Because a state committing genocide on it's neighbors, cares about endangering nesting birds.... Sure.
To be honest, can someone explain why a water lock was needed?
@@Matti_us_Alpe, that's a good question. I looked it up.
Apparently Baltic seawater by way of the Gulf of Gdansk supply ~85% of the horizontal water supply (rain being vertical) into the Vistula Lagoon, all of it through the Strait of Baltiysk, the Strait being the Poles' only way into the lagoon before they built the canal.
The water levels between both estuaries, the Gulf & the lagoon, are normally less than 0.8 meters' difference unless there are windstorms. In heavy storm conditions with high winds, though, the water level in the lagoon could reach as high as 1 meter above Sea level, which would damage parts of the lagoon.
There are 2 reasons to build the locks. They built the locks to keep exchange of the Gulf's & lagoon's respective waters to as bare a minimum as possible. This preserves the lagoon's salinity level.
The second reason is storm control. The wind storms I mentioned can raise the lagoon's water height to as much as 1 meter above Sea level, potentially flooding the lagoon polders (sp.) which help the locals control against river floods (the Vistula River, the 9th longest River in Europe, empties into the lagoon). An opened canal can use the different water heights to allow the lagoon an emergency outflow to the Gulf, keeping the flood-control polders undamaged.
I learned a lot looking up the answer for your question! Thanks for asking.
@@Matti_us_Alpe First of all, don't say or write, "To be honest". It infers that you are a liar most of the time.
Secondly, there was absolutely no need for the lock. It is a piece of gross over engineering, insisted upon by the Brussels/Bruxelles Mafia to help their grasping friends. Instead of asking about the lock, perhaps you could ask why a Belgian construction company was foisted on the Poles adding dramatically to the cost. If they had asked me, I could have designed and project managed a canal for them a/ WITHOUT A LOCK b/ draft only limited by the depth of the lagoon, 3/ allowing for at least 24 ships each day in each direction. Sunshine does not say whether his ships are 12 in each direction or 12 in total each day and, without those concrete spiders, only a fraction of the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere and for less than one tenth of the cost of this thing
Their excuse for the lock is that the AVERAGE level of the water in the lagoon is marginally higher at this point than the AVERAGE level of the water in the open Bay of Gdansk. There is an inference on the video that the Vistula flows into the lagoon causing this difference, the water having to flow many miles to the North-East to flow out of the Russian passage. The Baltic has hardly any tidal range. There are, however long shore currents in the Baltic which have lead to sediments from the big rivers forming these huge sand bars. The eventual passage of these rivers to the open sea is therefore obstructed by their own sediment. The draft of barges on the Vistula is seriously restricted by sand bars in the river during the Summer months. The Vistula has snaked across the coastal plain and changed its' course frequently. At various times, it has entered the sea though this lagoon but it doesn't anymore. Having entered the Baltic about 19 miles (30 kms) to the West of the lagoon for a few centuries, a more direct route has been hard engineered and the Vistula now enters the Baltic about 14 miles (22 kms) to the West of the lagoon. Contrary to what is stated in the video, the canal is not called "The Vistula Canal", it is "Kanał żeglugowy. Nowy Świat" which literally translates as "Canal Shipping New World". Although the lagoon is open to the sea at the Kaliningrad end and in theory, the water should be at the same level, there is a tendency for water to pile up a little at the upper ends of inlets and estuaries, and although the Vistula does not enter the lagoon, there is some drainage from lesser water courses. Don't misinterpret the film at 5.58. That showed the water being allowed through the coffer dam for the initial filling of the lock when construction of the lock was complete.
There was also a question about different cyanobacteria in the water on each side of the spit. I say "Sod the cyanobacteria !"
My answer would have been to have great chunks of rock (20 tonnes ...many full freight containers weigh more) quarried from somewhere up the Vistula and brought down on barges. The rock could then have been laid in the Sea and in the lagoon in the shape of fans and creating a funnel across the spit about 10 times wider than the existing canal. A narrow channel could have been cut across the spit down the centre of the funnel. As soon as there was a connection between the lagoon and the Sea, using the differential in water level the canal would have done nearly all its' own dredging with the sand carried out into the the sea with the rock subsiding and being augmented as necessary to provide a hard banks for the canal .... NO CONCRETE !!! If aby of the rockk chunks were dislodged in an occasional violent storm (This is the Baltic, it isn't the Atlantic), then a crane barge could be used to put them back in place. The dredging could then have been finished off with mechanical dredgers, ideally spreading the sand on the landward side of the rock banks. Until such time as the level in the lagoon falls to the level of the sea the canal would have self-dredged and any sandbank that may become a nuisance could be dredged and the material dumped behind the rock flares. During construction, a temporary pontoon bridge could have been built to carry the very small number of vehicles that use the spit road . It is a dead-end road running for about 15 miles (23 kms) serving a few small settlements along the spit terminating close to the Kaliningrad border.
Bearing in mind the small amount of traffic that uses the bridges(which have been built at monstrous cost, I would have constructed a concrete barge 60 ft (18 m) wide and 400 feet (a little over 122m) long. This would be the floating bridge. Piers would be built out into the canal with a waterway between them of 425 ft (130m) The bridge would be anchored to one pier and using a floating cable from the bank, the loose end of the bridge could be allowed to float into position using the gentle current and metal ramps lowered into place to allow use of the road and then pulled out of the way to allow passage of ships. When the current isn't enough, a small tug would do the job. Because there is so little traffic using the bridge, I suggest that the bridge should be in place for 3 hours for road vehicles and then 3 hours for the ships ... or, if the number of ships was not great, 4 hours for the road and 2 hours for the ships. People on land would know exactly when the bridge would be open for them. On the basis of alternating 3 hours, the ships would have 90 minutes out and then 90 minutes in. This would leave 4.5 hours at a time when ships could not use the canal but passage would be far faster than using the stupid lock and a lot faster than using the Kaliningrad passage if travelling to or from the West.
I hope this answers your question and a bit more.
Since you’re looking at a project in Baltic Sea region, when can we expect a video about RailBaltica?
So nice that the Russians are concerned about Poland's financial health. What a nice and helpful neighbor!!!
мы любим Польшу .
Haha! :)
They also seem to be very educated on EU law, more then the EU itself. /s
@@РубероидОтважный But we don´t like you.
Yeah and this love for animals and our planet… they really love nature even more than königsberg‘s native citizens who got thrown out by those war criminals
It created an artificial island in the lagoon, which is planned to be a bird habitat. The island is tentatively named the Aestian Island, after the ancient Baltic tribe that lived in the region
They mention that in the video
@@hia5235 B.S.
@@hia5235
In the 1850s a huge storm created a 150 metre wide channel in the
peninsula into Lake Ontario by Toronto thus creating an island.
That island still seems to be doing just fine.
In fact better than it would be doing if it was a peninsula
because if it had still been a peninsula when the age of the
car arrived people inevitably would have built a road
from the mainland across the entire piece of land
and humans would have ended up disturbing it much more.
@@hia5235you must be part of the Russian govt. 👀😂
@@hia5235
Funny---RuZZia is more concerned about other country's environment than with their own!
Canal: $500,000,000.00
Escaping russian influence: Priceless
It's not even that expensive compared to Poland's Tax revenue they gather each 😂
For Everything Else, there's MasterCard
Not to mention that bribes that were certainly costing them even more to get through russian waters.
@@nntflow7058it is so expensive that the project will turn profit only after 700 years
This canal is a crime against nature and common sense.
Elbląg is not a major port in Poland, but it allows for a little easier distribution of cargo traffic in north east area of the country.
I was wondering why this Canal wouldn't have already been built if this was such an important harbor. It makes a lot more sense now.
Maybe now it could be?
@@sion8 nope Zalew Wiślany(Vistula lake) its not so deep to use bigger ships. Average 2,7m deep
@@CarPhotos Exactly! The new proudly-built canal opens up traffic... to a very minor, insignificant port.
@@greg-warsaw4708
Okay.🤷♂️
Poland is an independent nation, with its own identity and people that should be able to do whatever they want within their territory.
My home, my home renovations.
Not every infrastructure project needs positive rate of return. There plenty of examples of train routes that are not profitable but are needed to connect rural communities.
Or standing armies. Those rarely turn out financially beneficial, but still for some strange reason most countries in the world prefer having one of their own.
@@qwormuli77 Sensible chuckle.
I think that a sensible 650-year down-pay plan to break even is worth it just to make Mordor slightly upset. Most of us are happy with some inconvenience to avoid interacting with moronic bullies daily. I quote: ""Never argue with idiots; they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
Well played Polish friends. Well played.
@@droopy_eyes it literally shortend the route to the Baltic sea for one of the largest Polish ports and made possible Russian interference impossible. That alone makes it worth building 5 times over.
@@droopy_eyes my points have nothing to do with invasion...you are connecting dots that aren't even there.
Remember kids: whoever doesn't want you to grow and become stronger and more efficient, is not your friend.
Yes. We known that Germans, who are blocking practically every infrastructure project in Poland, are our enemies.
Wish I met you 20 years ago ❤
USA regarding the rest of the world.
No shit Sherlock.
Every country about every other country @@mattgillard8253
Funny how aggressive nations often get concerned with another country's economic well being, environmental concerns and social well being whenever they act independently.
Those Russians are such good hearted people
@@VladimirPutin-p3t Their generosity and consideration is exceeded by only one other nation who shares a border with them.
@@VladimirPutin-p3tIf only their generosity could be repaid by allowing every single russian national to enter a care free permanent nap in a...communal dirt bed.
Yes, USA is the cancer, you are right
Same as how fossil fuel industries suddenly care about the environment whenever there's a proposed green energy project. Funny that
Just like in business, it's not always about direct profits, but also about not letting your competitors (or enemies) get wealthier and more powerful.
Russia's pockets would be a lot fatter if they were a bit more business minded with its neighbors.
@@utriaininjaсоседи отправляют оружие, чтобы убивать русских солдат. Это не располагает к сотрудничеству.
Minor detail: Those funny shaped blocks for the breakwaters were designed in the Netherlands for the upgrade of the Afsluitdijk. On a recent video about that upgrade, it was mentioned that these blocks were going to be used world wide, nice to seen an example.
Denmark and the Netherlands have long been leaders in land reclamation technologies. It's cool stuff 😎
There are other specific design such as the Sogreah one.
It is not the first time we see Dutch activity in the area. Entire Vistula estuary ( Zulawy ) was managed by Dutch immigrants in XV and XVI century. They built an extensive system of canals, locks and dams and reclaimed some areas below sea level.
major detail: the whole project is Dutch design and engineering.
The Dutch are masters at pushing back against the power of the Sea starting with the huge Zuider Zee Project. When I was a young boy my family visited the Dutch Coast and we heard and about the immensity of the project. I lived very close to the Alden Hydraulics Laboratory of Worcester (Massachusetts) Polytechnic University where they had single buildings dedicated to layouts of the hydrology of such projects including nuclear power stations.
A BIG LIKE for the correct pronouciation of ELBLĄG! Spot on, mate!
But sad about the chav English.
What??? @@miguelrodriguez-kw6je
Chav English? What do you mean? Not posh enough? @@usernamename2978
the brexit makes these bloody brits learn polish
😆Lol. I don't think it's Brexit. It is just journalistic professionalism ;-) @@edik-cz
From elblag but live abroad and coming back this year I’ve seen that part of town spring back to life after years of slowly rotting away
Good to hear. Never got to Poland and perhaps to old to go wandering. Love to see things being built and making a difference in communities across the world.
Russia, that neighbor that doesn't like you landscaping your own front yard as you please.
В это никому не нравится )) Румыния сейчас на Украину агрится по поводу канала в устье Дуная. А США вообще всем угрожают,если кто-то что-то строит.
@@margo7059as always the orc is making idiotic comments. Danube is a river, which is a completely different context, isn’t it, orc?
Кому именно?
Yes, they would prefer to do the landscaping for you...with missiles and artillery.
@@margo7059 now you'll provide examples for your kremlin talking points....
Back in the mid-90s, when I was a child, maybe 6 years old or so, my mother told me she would take me on a boat ride through a lock in Hamburg, Germany. We did it, and it was nothing special to me then. Today I look at it as a very fond memory, and I think it was a very cool thing for her to take me to :)
This story is missing meaningful details...
@@ICU1337 Which ones? :)
I look upon a trip through the Panama Canal as a highlight of my life.Pity I didn't have the cameras I own today.
@@CharlieTheAstronaut lol like the rest of the story lol🤣
@@ICU1337 it's not a story, it's a vignette.
To explain: we have ports for cargo in Szczecin, Świnoujście, Gdynia, Gdańsk and maybe Kołobrzeg can be modernized. This canal is not for big cargo because Elbląg is not for that.
Anyone know why Poland didn't opt to build a lock big enough to handle all sizes of modern cargo ships? Seems like a minor difference over a distance of only 1km. The entire thing seems unpractically small.
Simply beacuse it wasnt needed. Main cargo ports are in Gdansk and Gdynia that are already right next to the baltic sea. That canal was built simply to allow locals to travel with their boats without russians standing on their way
There is no real need for this canal - Elbląg (Poland) is not a crucial port. Currently, the canal is used by several private boats/kayaks a day, which incurs a cost of $10,000 per unit. Probably, its strategic significance is the biggest clue.
Also it wouldnt be just the lock that would have to be deeper and bigger but also Vistula Lagoon is not deep enough for cargo traffic.
Elbąg is just low priority and not so big port. Vistula lagoon is just not so deep for big ships. There is plan to make it a bit deeper so port can utilize full use of this canal. And currently Poland is increasing throughput of much better located ports on east Gdańsk/Gdynia only 60 km away and Szczecin/Świnoujście on most western part of sea side.
Probably EU wouldn't greenlight this project if it were to become yet another cargo port competing with German ports.
Investments by governments don't always need to make their money back. It's about what they enable.
What does this one enable? Free passage of ships without interference from a foreign state who aren't the best neighbours.
Whats the monetary value of that?
I wish they mentioned that in the video
Ещё интересно какой грузооборот у порта ))) Если для частных яхт роют канал за государственный счет, то )))
Nobody ever asks why freeways in the US don't pay for themselves. Although maybe they should.
@@garryferrington811 Freeways can increase economic activity which then increases tax revenue. Just because there are no tolls involved doesn't mean that the government doesn't see a benefit.
that's the plan, for now it's nowhere close to fulfilling that goal
you kind of overstate the importance of Elbląg port. its in fact a pretty small port, thats why the canal that was built is small too.
overall it wont have an enormous impact for polish economy, but removing any russian control over our country is always a good thing
The artificial island they made here is an excellent example of working with the planet in development. In this case the land of the Vistula spit is home to nesting grounds for many bird species. Running the canal through it destroys some of that available area but building the artificial island very close nearby negates the habitat loss. In fact it looks like once the island is complete it will provide 3 or more times the land than was used for the project.
Overall the species reliant on the spit, Humans, and migratory birds get what they want out of the project. The poles get a canal and the birds get a new but local and probably even safer nesting site. Yes it will take a few years for that benefit to be realized but its a solid plan overall.
Congratulations to Poland!!! 🍻
Nothing to congratulate, it was a waste of money. Stupid idea.
@@Marta_z_DabrowyRuski beep beep boop
@@Marta_z_Dabrowyyou seem upset, Ivan 😢go drink some vodka 😉
@@Exodius3 Is criticism of wasting tax money Russian propaganda now?
You are really well trained obedient dogs. Wow wow.
@MrGunnar69yeah ngl looking at the video thought it woulf be something more interesting but it honestly just seems extremely pointless and a waste of money that can go towards other stuff
Elblag was an important port in medieval times. For example it was exempted from taxes when trading with United Kingdom. A substantial number of Englishmen lived in the city.
Yes and it's funny this video didn't mention the Elbląg Canal.
Water levels on bay and sea are actually the same. Lock exist to prevent sea water from entering the lagoon.
I was wondering why there would be a significant difference in water level between the two… 🤔
This detail bothered me too. Both waters are sealevel and they literally meet several kilometers north. How could they be different levels if none of them is river that is higher. THX I thought I was going crazy thinking I'm alone on this one.
@@petrnemec1421 Polish opposition (at the time) was against this investment. BTW God knows why... So they tried to push all buttons available like envinronmental objections, etc. They were against cutting trees (feeble and weak at this point), advertising some special bugs and plants that will suffer if the canal was to be build, etc. Therefore - to avoid constant beating the eco-madness-drum the investor decided to put up a lock.
I think they will be a little different most of the time because of the way high tides sweep along the coast line and the current natural passage in Kaliningrad will restrict the flow in to and out of the Lagoon.
@@huw3851 More or less. I suppose mainly storm prevention. With northern storms the water can rise...and flood some part of that land if not blocked by those water doors.
Another interesting fact is that yachts can pass by on their way to the Masurian lakes. According to information from the Maritime Office, over 1,300 yachts have passed through so far.
Masurian lakes are not suitable for sea yachts - too shallow waters. Apart from that the only water connection between Great Mazurian Lakes Route and Baltic Sea runs not through Elbląg, but through Gdańsk, Wisła river, Narew River and Pisa River. Pretty long way round possible only for boats with very little submergence, not sea-ready yachts.
@@jacek5384 What is the water depth there? E.g. catamarans frequently have drafts of less than 1.5m. If you don't want to go under bridges, you don't even have to unstep the mast.
@@realulli To all the way from the Wisła River outlet upstream through Wisła, Narew and Pisa rivers to Great Masurian Lakes Route one will need a boat with submergence rather like a kayak. That shallow there, particularly Pisa River very shallow river. From Elbląg port one can go by water to another part of Masurian Lakes, not really popular for yachting and smaller lakes. Anyways not suitable for seaborne yachts or any boat with submersion more than about 50 cm.
thats false the biggest thing that can pass through the canal are kayaks but even then due to the amount of paperwork that has to be done its faster to just carry them across next to the canal
Way to go Poland!!! I admire your strenght! Greetings from Finland🇵🇱🇫🇮!
Respect for saing Elbląg correctly
Elbing!
@@PeteDarrell1972إلبينج*
@@PeteDarrell1972 Not for a long time
@@mickimicki It was under German rule for a longer time than it was under Polish rule. More importantly, though, Germans founded the city, not the Poles.
Damn you guys sound like the city should belong to Germany
Weird that an open lagoon would have a different water level than the outside sea.
...maybe due to tides...?
Hydronomics go brrrrr
I thought the same, mostly because the open sea is just down the coast a little with no canal required? 🤷🏻♂️ clearly not as simple as that 🤔
The flow through the connection between the lagoon and the sea depends on the difference in water levels. The greater the difference, the greater the flow. Ignoring short term fluctuations including tides, the lagoon has inputs of direct runoff from land and from rivers. The output is through the connection across the spit. The average difference in water levels will stabilize such that the inputs equal the outputs. If the connection were wider, the water level difference would be less and if the connection were narrower, the level difference would be greater.
@@AttilaAsztalos apparently the Baltic Sea does not have significant tides.
A canal is like a road, only it runs on water. Poland did right to build a road that is short and independent of Russia's moods. In this way, several small ports were connected, enabling the development of these regions, which are also very beautiful for tourism.
There is no problem in going on a beautiful holiday trip in a small or larger boat.
7:20 - I'm afraid that "medium ship", in international commerce, means something more substantial. With 4 meter limit on draft the canal cannot accommodate anything seagoing - that's the job of nearby ports of Gdunya and Gdansk.
Not true. The sea ships up to around 8000 DWT will be able to reach Elblag through this channel.
First realistic approach in comments - new channel is too shallow, past and present vessels movement didn't require such an investment. More efficient and needed might be setting sailing route through Vistula river from Gdańsk to Bydgoszcz / Solec Kujawski to distribute goods from Gdansk/Gdynia real seaports
@@funtasta This is it, small-scale local shipping while nearby existing ports can take anything that can cross the Baltic.
@@funtasta Meanswhile, Gdynia and Gdansk are far away from achieving max capacity....So, where's all the traffic at Elblag harbour?
So why Gdansk is still being extended? :) The main purpose of Elblag is supporting role to big Gdansk or Gdynia. Armatures of smaller ships can use cheaper harbor, or store load for longer time there. Simply a bit different clients can be serviced in Elblag.
There are no different levels between lagoon and the Baltic see. It cannot be as the material itself did mention that lagoon connects naturally with the Baltic on the russian side. The locks are there to avoid to much salination of the lagoon.
You forget the influx of water by rivers…
And tides.
@@adamliske
Tides are negligible in the Baltic Sea- except when winds come in the play…
Да, собственно по поводу засоленности лагуны российская сторона и возражала.
@@aoilpe The water level in the Baltic Sea can change by plus/minus 1 meter depending on the wind direction, and even more during a storm. Due to only a small breakthrough in the Russian part, the water level in the huge lagoon does not change as quickly as in the Baltic Sea, so a lock is required.
It is worth adding that the port in Elbląg is a small, insignificant port in Poland. Currently, mainly yachts use the canal.
So taxpayers provided the filthy rich a way to the BS without paying Ruzzia for it.
Gdynia used to be a small insignificant village.
@@jaszaesel5390 Gdynia has deeper waters, Elbląg does not
Copium is a dangerous drug
It's infrastructure. It doesn't NEED to provide some return on investment. It just needs to be useful, which, clearly, it seems to be.
If it is useful it will by definition have an ROI.
For example Reducing time = less travel time, quicker turn around time.
Theo thing is, it's not useful at all
@@moscuadelendaest Yup useless shit. For small yachts only.
@@kendoluke809 There aren't really any other boats going there anyway. It serves its purpose.
@@moscuadelendaest It means fewer ships are reliant on Russian "co-operation". Do pay attention.
Great piece of foresight well done Poland , Solidarity
AWESOME! Good for Poland. Independent thinkers, thinking about taking care of their people. Wonderful! 😊
I’m glad they learned there’s no stoping the free nation of Poland.
The fact they built that in just five years with only that much money is amazing to me after hearting about so many modern infrastructure projects going horribly. Poland stronk.
Rssian are targeting civilians with missiles but they are concern about the birds that could be traumatised by a canal project
Poland is becoming strong and economicaly powerful. Love That.
As a Pole all I can say is: XD
😹😹👍
@@Tarets Why? You aint pround how your country is thriving?
@@Artisjohny it is strong and economically powerful. That's why it can afford to waste money on such useless projects like this.
That is some cool engineering! I never heard of the project. RUclips is a great source.
Na YT każdy dzień budowy jest uwieczniony. To chyba najbardziej udokumentowana budowa w historii...
2:13 for the usual destination it's like 30-40km shorter. That's not worth mentioning. This is geopolitical project, no eventual cost savings entered the calculus
I am Russian. And I am happy for this cool engineering feat, done by Polish. I wish poland long peace and prosperity. Hope I could 1 day visit it as a tourist.
Honestly it does seem small for a canal. I doubt this buries their reliance on kaliningrad. Why didn't they make it much larger to begin with?
Not needed- no big ports…
Because this canal is for small and medium sized ships. Our ports responsible for container ship handling are located in the west
There was huge discussion about this project in Poland. This was one of points against project in this form.
Because it opens Vistula river directly to Baltic ports. Big ships don't fit that river.
Very close to it is the large and dynamically developing port of Gdańsk. He eats everything that flows to Königsberg.
Elbląg is to stimulate the north-eastern part of Poland, (Warmia and Masuria) is one of the poorer parts of Poland. Additionally, the clogged port in Gdańsk will be able to redirect smaller vessels to Elbląg.
Historical curiosities: The Third Reich produced Seehunt submarines in Elbląg.
My father who is from Elbląg was talking about it ever since I was born and probably before that too as the talks and the idea to build this was made well over 50 years ago. They started on the job 1 year before my father passed so he didn't witness the completion.
A very logical canal location. How easy/difficult will it be to make it bigger to suit large ships? And was the island designed to be a wildlife habitat or does it have another purpose?
It might just be a nature compensation measure. Either because of legal requirements, or because it unlocked additional subsidies.
Large infrastructural projects are often required to 'offset' the ecological disturbance that they cause. Creating a new habitat could have been such an offset measure.
had to dump all that dirt somewhere aint it?
The location is illogical because literally nobody needs that canal. The only reason to build it was too steal public funds by the former criminal government.
It's a naturally occuring spit of land
Idea is that birds will nest on that island, and they needed to dump all that sand somewhere. There is a plan for a second island from deepening waterway to Elbląg port, at the moment there is legal battle about who should pay for it, local or central government. As for the size of canal itself, there is no need for bigger one, and likely never be as Elbląg port is rather small and expanding it would cost too much. Personally I would rather see those money spent on expanding port of Gdańsk, or building container terminal in Szczecin but on the other hand it may be needed for military use unfortunately.
Thank you for highlight this subject.
The lock is largely intended to prevent salt water from the Baltic Sea from entering the lagoon.
Another weekly banger from the B1M once again.
Finally episode in Poland! Warsaw skyscrapers next?
better no... enough scandals for 1 country..
Your most famous buildings are concentration camps
@@varoonnone7159 That were built by the germans.
@@varoonnone7159build by germans and filled by fench railways what prodditroffited by transporting jews to the camp for death. Btw your famous buildind notre dam cathedral burned because you cheap busterds hired few muslims to do Simple work. ..and Poland have the tallest sky scraper in EU.
@@varoonnone7159 How do you call a concentration camp in Poland?
There is simillar canal in South Korea.
Because the mouth of the Han River was the border with North Korea, Ships can't enter Seoul directly.
Although there was controversy, Korean government completed a canal called 'Ara Canal' in 2012.
However, because the port city of Incheon exists next to Seoul, not many ships enter Seoul through the canal there.
Way to go Poland!
🇰🇷 ❤🇵🇱
cabbage bro
I must sat that I'm used to native English speakers having truly atrocious pronounciation of Polish names, to the point where I myself as a Pole could not guess what they are trying to convey, so when I heard you saying "Elbląg" and it was absolutely 100% spot on, to say I was taken aback woud be a massive understatement, I guess it took some practice, nice mate. Now to the core, yeah there was a discord from local officials of whether they're gonna be responsible for deepening the track, but once that is settled, it's all cool. As for the russian objections, well there is only one good place for them, trash bin. By the way, there is one great project in the works here right now called CPK (Central Communication Port), it's gonna bring together air, rail and roads. You'd be more than welcome to make a video about it! Cheers~
👍
Really cool!
Props to Poland for implementing this project!
Glad to see someone else telling the Russians to get stuffed and doing something positive for themselves at the same time..
I was there in the summer of 2023. The canal is done very nicely and has some “wow” factor to it. Quite impressive. Our first stay in poland, driving from Denmark.
Why did they not build a wide, deeper canal initially for larger cargo ships. Also raising water level seems time consuming
because there is no port capable of taking wide, larger cargo ships. This canal leads to an insignificant river port.
The lagoon is shallow, cant handle large cargo ships
650 years payback does not make sense.
Back of envelope calcs:
$450M project
450 million divided by 650years = $692K per year
Divide by 365 =$1,900 per day
Divide by 12 ships that currently pass through daily and that is $158.
Therefore if they charge $158 per ship that are using the canal it would take 650 years to pay off the $450M project.
I assume they are charging many factors of magnitude more than this
So it can’t be right.
I know this is simplistic but illustrates the point.
Also, anyone correct me if I got this logic wrong.
I think you didn't include the ongoing costs of operation and maintenance, which will obviously be orders of magnitude more money than the original investment, as you can see it's far from a passive system.
12 ships daily CAN pass through it. It's the capacity, not usage. Real number is about one per day which is far from breaking even (someone has to maintain it) - but it's predicted to somewhat increase
In the end, it doesn't really matter because Poland is creating sovereignty for itself and it's hard to measure what this brings them in dollars.
@@vomm You build it for your own money, then you may say it's unmeasurable. Public investments need to make sense and have a practical purpose. You can't just explain it with some sovereigninty propaganda, when the country is dependent on its neighbours thousands of times more in other areas, like fossil fuels for electricity and transportation.
@@Tarets Hm every public buildings has flagposts in front of it. Funded by public investments. How can it be, what's the explanation, what's the measurable benefits of flags besides entrances? Same with the Royals or represential presidents. Or a lot of other things which only exist for national identity / propaganda / souvereignity.
There are other similar story-projects: to connect the island of Uznam and the town of Świnoujście with with the rest of Poland, reunited at last. And in Łodź, Poland's 4th largest city located in the middle, there is a tunnel built to connect two different rail networks... an overlooked project since 1918... when the country was reunited from three parts.
Why is the water level different on both sides? Isn't the lagoon connected to the sea on the russian side?
Every river that empties to the sea is connected to the sea. And every river that connects to the sea is at a higher level than the sea, if you go back upstream a few km. This lagoon is, in that sense, like a big river. It is fed upstream by streams, rivers, and runoff.
my guess would be because the open area is too small to allow all water needed to equalise the difference between high and low tide through every 6 hours.
Poland wouldn't have to build a Canal if Königsberg was returned to its rightful owner and not have been ethnically cleansed by the Soviets.
Really? Check germany's effort to block off Świnoujście port.
By rightful owner you meant Poland right?
Just to give some more information - it's not like Elbląg is a huge port, it's rather on the smallest scale. But still canal gives some more oportunities.
A very interesting project, and this is the first time I’ve heard about it, I was really surprised
the date of opening (17th Sep) was carefully picked
🏖 Viva Poland ❣👍
Greetings from Japan. 🌷☺🌷
Can someone explain why the bay and the lagoon have different water levels? The lagoon is connected directly to the Baltic Sea, at which point the water level becomes in the lagoon than the sea?
Sea levels rise and fall with the tides. Perhaps they want a fixed water level inland
I don't know the details, there may be other reasons for the gates. But although the tidal effect in the Baltic Sea is only a few cm it's still a lot. The Wisła Lagoon has an area of 834 km² so for each cm of tide almost 1.4 million m²/hour has to pass through the two canals on average.
Without the locks, as the tides rose and fell in the Baltic Sea, it would cause a current through the narrow opening which would be dangerous to shipping.
The water level varies on both sides due to wind, tides and currents, the loch raise or lowers in both directions as needed. Also if they did not have lochs the current through the channel would be very strong, swapping directon with the tides, navigational and erosion problems would become issues.
There are no pumps or seperate sources of water needed because it is just equalizing the water level depending on which direction the ship is heading.
Well sea rise in that area is 2cm @@williamlloyd3769
You know what kind of neighbor you are when next door spends billions to dig a trench just to escape dealing with your chip.
I live in Warsaw and seeing 7:59 this cityscape makes me really happy that despite the history Poland has managed to record an economic growth over the past 30 years, getting to the point we make multi billion investments and Become an attractive business hub for companies like Deloitte, Microsoft, Google etc..
I hope this had work won’t get ruined..
Thank you, another really well made video.
How on earth is the water level different when there's an opening to the ocean only 30 km away from the canal?
Excellent! Tides but do the Russians have locks? I don't think so.
Even a relatively small marsh throttled by an ocean inlet will see a significant time lag between water levels. For a straight-through canal, that can mean a strong current, persistent silt buildup, etc.
A storm from the north raises level by 90 cm relative to the lagoon!
This wouldn’t be an issue if they’d just give Königsberg back to the Germans
Just give it back to Poland they owned it first 😂
Or Lithuania. Or, since there's still some prejudice towards them, Roma
The Germans couldn't accept it. Germany is prohibited by its own constitution to take in more land. In case you find this weird, just read up on German history, from the German Empire (1871) until the end of World War II. So even if someone *wants* to give Germany any land, that option is ruled out.
Way to go Poland 👍👍👍
Случайно вылезло это видео и я не удержался почитать польские комментарии, это всегда пикантно, и не настолько тошнотворно как украинские или грузинские, хотя и схоже по нарративу. Короче говоря чисто из мазохиских побуждений я зашёл поизучать чужое злоё торжество. К своему удивлению я поразился, что вы стали намного вежливее и толерантнее, чем ещё недавно, и вас не так сильно распирает от русских! Конечно тут же вылезли и грузины (они везде, где упоминают что-то назло Путину). Так держать! Молодцы! Канал красивый, пусть он принесёт много пользы. Желаем вам процветания да благополучия.
Не знаю, на каждого более-менее адекватного поляка найдется десять русофобов такой крепости, что как в анекдоте - пускай Польшу грабят лишь бы за компанию пограбили и Россию. Да и первые всё равно в той или иной мере выражают мысль "пускай сотни миллионов на ветер, лишь бы не российское". Короче говоря, если прогресс и есть, то для полного выздоровления всё равно потребуется ещё много времени.
we in poland are just tired and bored of you russians at this point. Too unamused of you to hate you
This is total idiocracy - there is a 20x times larger Polish port just in 30 km distance, called Gdansk. Why would anyone want to use Elblag port ever?
Well done Poland!
I don't understand the point of the lock. If they just leave the channel open the water levels will just equalize
Well done Poland!!😊
The Polish sure are brilliant people, making such a cool looking and functioning canal
A strong and stable Poland is a good friend to have.
@@parafinzerotwo4338 You obviously have a very strong grasp on history. /s
For God sake why wouldn't they make the canal deep enough right from the start......when it is starting out from scratch????? Unbelievable.
testing the waters???
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq Yes but they already had all of the men and equipment in place.....doing the digging....building the lock. I can't get over the fact that they wasted the opportunity to do it right the first time. Now it will cost WAY more to correct the first design.
@@rael5469 its because of the environment
Every single EU country should strive to disconnect from dependence to ru$ia, no matter the cost. Well done neighbors, Lithuania is proud of you
You should be concerned about yourself, Lithuanians.
Soon there will be nothing left of your country, and even Russian influence will not be needed here.
I need to go to Bydgoszcz soon! We Love Poland 🇵🇱 . Not mainly because of my wife’s ancestry but because of the people, food and Pivo!
Understanding the geopolitical implications of Russia's attempt to block this canal is crucial, and this video offers a comprehensive explanation.
Freedom is priceless ❤
Nice of you to explain canal locks to those unfamiliar with canals. The same system is used on small canals built to carry mule-towed barges in the US in the 19th century, like the C & O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal, where the locks still work.
crazy that they did all this for less than 16% the cost of JPMorgan's newest office building
The Poles knew long before 2022 that no free country should depend on Russian gas. Therefore, they also built a LNG harbor and now get their supply from the Emirates and the USA. The Yamal gas pipe is closed, but not the one connected to Norway.
yk that exporting gas through pipes instead of ships is not only much cheaper, but also much more environmentally friendly. I'm not saying nations should completely depend on it, but declining an offer like that is plain stupid
Jesus Christ, do you people hear yourself? "No free country should depend on Russian gas" yes, they should depend on American gas which is many times more expensive and transported in much less ecological manner. Ask Germany if that worked out for them.
Its lovely to hear that the russians care so much about polish fish and sealife, particularly as they care so little about russian human life.
"each block had a hole in the middle to reduce water pressure and increase stability throughout the wall"
Can anyone link to/explain how these blocks work?
i'm very confused as to how the hole in the blocks help anything 4:21
After some googling, no paper I've found offered any further explanation on why the hole in Xblocplus 'reduces wave pressure' on the blocks below, but the second major reason for the hole is that 'it makes the pick-up, transport and placement of the block much easier - the application of the blocks is thus substantially quicker and safer.' ; ' This hole is used for fast and very efficient placement with a clamp.'
that canal was built for military intentions and is just a bonus that small cargo vessels can fit as well
if its for small cargo vessels that waht military intentions you are talking about? military kayaks ??
frigates, destroyers, corvettes, every other vessel smaller than a carrier@@rlbk3649
I try to learn something new everyday. I never heard of the country Kaliningrad or the Vistula Canal until watching this video. A nice video. Thanks for sharing.
it isn't a country. It is a city or let's say county. A Russian enclave
*exclave
Canal itself is to this day a pretty controversial topic in Poland. Its detractors say that it's fully political project with no prospects of turning profit, while its supporters say it strengthend Polish sovereignty and created new jobs, as well as gave Polish engineers much needed experience.
And in this case I'd say the truth lays in the middle. Not between r*ssian propaganda and Polish claims.
who cares about po*ish claims?
Had no idea this situation even existed ! Anything to open sea access is probably a good thing both short and long term.
Imagine that you live with someone in an apartment.
And this person blocks you from using the part of the apartment that you own.
What are you doing? You take a hammer and hammer down the door. And that's exactly what we did. We have opened up new possibilities.
A country should be allowed to do what it wants to its own land and shouldn't be pressurised by dictators who have already got the biggest land mass in the world to play with. I think they've done a good job, well done Poland!
Very enjoyable as always 👍
Congratulations Poland, well done
The canal actually was once upon Prussian idea. Though they failed to make that work, because of technology but now it happened.
@@piotrkijak1774 well, poland finished it…so they have the credit for it
Thank you for the more objective look on this topic!
As a Pole from the region of the canal: building a new cargo train line or extending existent between Gdynia (major port hub; 90km away) and Elbląg (city behind the canal) would be faaar more cost effective.
The project was more of manifestation of political will, then economical decision.
PiS wanted to piss off Tusk in his own backyard and get political backing on a long neglected area. Elblag has always suffered from being overshadowed by Tri-City's presence around the corner.
Kaliningrad is not the only russian port without ice.Check all the ports on the black sea
he was talking about the baltic sea
@@dschonsie Nope. That doesn't work like this.
Congratulations Poland very nice build I love this❤
Great video, loved it…but the Suez Canal block was three years ago already!? Feels like it just happened.
I love how explaining a simple, widely used thing as a "lock" (we call it a "sluis" in the Netherlands!) is needed. To the Dutch, it is just something nearly everyone knows.
You did a very good job of it!
The swinging bridges are also quite common here, especially in city centres. But for an out of the way project like this it feels like it would make more sense to go for a very high un-openable bridge (on mounds of earth on either side).
Since it's not a harbour area for loading and unloading ships, the space on either side isn't needed for anything else.
You could even make them slightly bigger, and have a nice park on the rises, with maybe a cafe on one of them. :)
I am sure ecologists can help ensure that that doesn't negatively impact the local environment, and I am sure that a bird sanctuary can be formed on the side that doesn't have a cafe.
If it's ok to ask, is "sluis" pronounced "sloos"? The reason I ask is that, on the canal system in the UK, we call the installation itself that allows a vessel to move between water levels a "lock", but the little mechanisms that open to physically change the water level inside the lock "sluice gates" or "sluices". It'd be really interesting if that linked the Dutch name to the British name 😊
@@t-and-p Hello! I'm not sure if English has an "ui" sound. It is one of those Dutch "we need more vowels, so lets just mash two together and give it a sound that isn't quite what you'd expect" double-vowels.
But I can tell you it is not the same sound as in English.
However, they both have the same origin; the latin word "exclusus"; to exclude.
English language etymology sites tend to favour French as the source.
But since in old French it is "escluse", and the earliest Dutch use of such a word was "sluse" (borrowed from French), later changed to "Sluis", and seeing that around that time English adopted the "Sluice" spelling, it seems likely that they got it from Dutch engineers working in England (who could do wonders, like pump out moors with windmills, that the English could only dream of).
I fear I sound pedantic when I say this, but as for the naming; the whole thing is a sluice, and the sluice-gates are simply the gates on the sluice.
So you'd be accurate calling it a Lock or a Sluice.
A Dutch person would call the gates "sluice doors" (sluis deuren). :)
And as for Dutch influenced English words; I would guess that about half of them are. The rest are French or Norse. :D