A section of the Nemunas River is being cleaned in Birštona: shipping will not stop

They will take place at the Birštonas stationary pier, 61.0-62.0 km and at a distance of 64.5 km from the Kaunas mariai pier. It is planned that the works will last until October 1, 2022, but shipping in this section will not stop.

According to Birštonas municipality mayor Nijolė Dirginčienė, bridging the Nemunas river is an old but rapidly reviving idea. It is an important inland waterway that has not been cleared until now, and its clearing and deepening will improve navigation conditions throughout the region. "We expect more and bigger ships arriving in Birštonas, a larger flow of tourists, new investments, therefore we are interested in the development of shipping in Nemune," he says. N. Dirginčienė.
"A new regular passenger route Birštonas - Prienai has already started operating in this section this year, more and more ships are mooring at the piers in Birštona (the municipality has equipped pontoon piers for this purpose), tourists are coming from other cities on the river, and businesses are being established on the coast. The cleaning of the Nemunas will directly contribute to the even greater attractiveness of the Birštonas resort", predicts Rūta Kapačinskaitė, director of the Birštonas Tourism Information Center.

"The memorandum signed by the Directorate of Inland Waterways and the municipalities of Aukštupis, by which the parties agreed to cooperate in the development of shipping, is gaining momentum. AB Vidaus Waterways Directorate started work in the Nemunas headwaters with specific equipment - dredgers/dredges for channel cleaning works in shallow waters. We are working to make the entire waterway in the upper reaches of the Nemunas suitable for navigation. We aim to improve navigation conditions on roads that are already in operation and are used for intensive navigation, where shoaling and other obstruction removal works have not been carried out, and to increase the length of operational waterways, to open the Nemunas to uninterrupted navigation along the entire length of the river in the territory of Lithuania", - shares the future plans of the Director General of the Inland Waterways Directorate director Vladimir Vinokurov.

After the silt accumulated at the Birštonas fixed pier is cleared, access to the pier will be opened for ships, navigation conditions on the inland waterway at Birštonos will improve, and conditions will be created to use the pier according to its purpose.
Cleaned shoal at the pier was formed from the floats brought up above and hinders the approach of the inland waterways to the pier. The cleaning works will be carried out in accordance with the requirements set out in the Environmental Protection Conditions. The design characteristics of the depth of the inland waterway and the marina in the water area will not be changed.
The cleaning work will be carried out during daylight hours, with a technically sound inland water vehicle - a small-capacity self-propelled dredger (dredging) and a vessel servicing this vehicle. The preliminary amount of alluvial soil to be removed is about 60 thousand. m3 at Birštonas stationary pier (61.0-62.0 km) and about 2 thousand. m3 at 64.5 kilometers. Excavated alluvial soil will be poured into the left bank of the Nemunas River with a soil auger, in places agreed with the Directorate of the Nemunas Loop Regional Park, in accordance with the recommendations of the Park Directorate regarding the execution of works, taking into account the specifics of the area.