The city's main maritime canal will be deepened to 13 meters, making it possible for the port to receive ships with up to 70,000 tons deadweight, Transport Minister Sergei Frank said on the press conference last Friday.

The canal project will be implemented in 2004 and 2005. The cost of the project has yet to be determined. Frank said that the recoupment period would not exceed seven years.

The port currently receives ships of no more than 40,000 deadweight.

Now Saint-Petersburg is a major transportation hub of Russia. It is the centre of the local road and railway system, and has a seaport in the Gulf of Finland of Baltic Sea and river ports in the delta of Neva. Saint-Petersburg is also the terminus of the Volgo-Baltic waterway which links the Baltic with the Black Sea.

News source: www.sptimes.ru
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