Russia’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) and authorities in the Perm federal subject have been examining dredging and hydraulic infrastructure works to address a navigation constraint between Chaikovsky and Sarapul in the Kama River’s Nizhnekamsk Reservoir.
The MOT said the proposals aim to provide sufficient water levels for vessels with draughts of at least 3.6 metres.
The ministry reported that river freight volumes totalled 14.4 million tonnes in 2025 and estimated annual freight growth potential at 25 million tonnes if the navigation constraint is addressed.
Deputy Transport Minister Alexander Poshivay and Perm Governor Dmitry Makhonin discussed the proposals at a meeting. The constrained stretch is 68 kilometres long, while Perm Krai’s river network extends for 634 kilometres.
The work follows a July 2023 presidential instruction for the government and interested regions to prepare proposals for accommodating vessels drawing at least 3.6 metres, including the amounts and sources of financing required.
Poshivay said in November 2023 that the bottleneck between the Votkinsk hydroelectric complex and Sarapul had a guaranteed fairway depth of 3.3 metres, compared with four metres on adjoining sections of Russia’s Unified Deepwater System.
He said a depth of four metres was needed for vessels to reach the upper Kama, including destinations in Udmurtia and Perm.
Research undertaken in 2015 for federal river transport agency Rosmorrechflot had assessed raising the reservoir to its 68-metre, second-stage design level as inadvisable because of the risk of inundating extensive areas of Udmurtia, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.
Dmitry Kirillov, then head of the Federal Agency for Water Resources, said in December 2024 that experts were considering a rise to 64 metres. Costs, additional water storage, the condition of navigation infrastructure and neighbouring regions’ readiness to bear the expense were among the issues under review.
The restored hydrofoil Voskhod-50 began passenger services between Perm and Sarapul in September 2026. Its first journey passed through the Chaikovsky locks.
