By Trend

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced early start of the construction of a shipping canal in Istanbul, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media.

"The construction of the shipping canal in Istanbul will begin very soon and the cancellation of this project is out of the question," President Erdogan said.

“The 'Istanbul Canal' is one of Turkey’s megaprojects,” the president added.

"The shipping canal will strengthen Turkey’s positions and those who oppose the construction of the canal have no idea about the importance of this project," President Erdogan said.

In general, 32,414 vessels, 10,981 of which were cargo ships, passed through the Turkish Dardanelles Strait (Canakkale) in the third quarter of 2019.

During this period, 30,352 vessels, of which 13,759 were cargo ships, passed through the Turkish Bosphorus Strait.

The length of the shipping canal in Istanbul will be 45 kilometers, and the depth - 25 meters. The canal will be able to let pass 150-160 vessels per day.

The purpose of the construction of the Istanbul canal is to reduce the burden of shipping on the Bosphorus Strait, as well as to prevent the threat of environmental and man-made disasters on one of the most intense sea routes in the world.

The Bosphorus is used by an average of 150 vessels per day, of which about 30 are oil tankers. Annually, about 150 million tons of oil and oil products are transported through the Black Sea Strait, while the throughput capacity of the Bosphorus is estimated at 200 million tons.

The Istanbul canal will run parallel to the Bosphorus and will actually turn the European part of Istanbul into an island and finally separate it from Europe. It will pass from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea through the Kucukcekmece Lake.

On the banks of the canal, it is planned to build new residential complexes, which will be connected with other areas of the 15 million metropolis via modern transport infrastructure including metro and high-speed trains, as well as with the third airport in Istanbul.

As part of this project, the construction of a new port is also expected.

It will be possible to use tankers with a length of 275 meters, a width of 48 meters and a capacity of 14,500 DWT on the Istanbul shipping canal, which is being built as part of the government’s “Vision 2023” plan.

The construction of the navigable canal will continue for five years and the minimum service life of the canal will be 100 years.