Underwater rock excavation to deepen the Vuosaari Harbour sea lane and a project to deepen the harbour basin began in the week of 14 September (week 38). The excavation work involves blasting, during which swimming and diving are prohibited in the area. The times of blasting are announced by WhatsApp. It is recommended that local cabin owners and tenants, boaters and divers in the area subscribe to WhatsApp announcements sent to a broadcast list established for the purpose.
The project to deepen the Vuosaari Harbour sea lane and harbour basin proceeds as planned. During the summer months, sediment was dredged from the harbour basin seabed, and the dredged materials were shipped to a dumping site located in the open sea. During the autumn, the deepening work has expanded to the sea lane, where underwater rock excavation was started in the week of 14 September (week38).
The underwater rock excavation involves blasting, which calls for precaution. The times of blasting are announced by WhatsApp messages delivered to subscribers. Announcements can be subscribed to by following the instructions on the project’s website. Swimming and diving are prohibited during blasting, and for this reason local cabin owners and tenants as well as all those moving and diving in the local waters are recommended to subscribe to the WhatsApp service. The WhatsApp channel is used only to make announcements on blasting. The channel cannot be used to send questions or inquiries about the project. Questions can be sent to the project contact persons by email or through the project’s Facebook page.
“Transport of blasted stone to Hernesaari started somewhat later as the dredger arrived in Vuosaari. Blasted stone is transported to Hernesaari by barges. In Hernesaari, the blasted stone is used for landfill in the construction of a new residential area,” says Seppo Paukkeri of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.
The dredging of the harbour basin and the disposal of the material at the dumping site in the open sea continue as before. The exact location of the equipment can be checked in the project’s map service.
The project to deepen the current Vuosaari Harbour sea lane and some of the harbour basin from 11 to 13 metres is a joint undertaking of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, Port of Helsinki and the City of Helsinki. The total volume of sediment to be dredged in the project will be about one million cubic metres. In addition, the underwater rock excavation will produce about 0.8 million cubic metres of blasted stone.
The goal of the project is to improve especially the economic conditions of container shipping and to boost the competitiveness of the Vuosaari Harbour. The deepening of the sea lane allows the cargo capacity of some of the cargo ships served by the harbour to be nearly doubled, which brings significant savings in shipping costs and reduces the environmental impact of shipping. The project is implemented during two ice-free seasons in 2020–2021. The new, deeper sea lane will be commissioned at the end of 2021.
Subscribe to WhatsApp messages on blasting(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish)
See the location of equipment in a map service(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish)
The project’s webpage on the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency’s site(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish)