APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070025-1
distance commercial operations. The principal waterways are as follows:
| Oder System | Miles of Navigability |
|---|---|
| Szczecin Maritime Fairway | 41.6 |
| Oder and branches | 496.0 |
| Kanal Gliwicki | 24.7 |
| Oder-Vistula System | |
| Oder-Vistula Waterway | 182.8 |
| Warta | 108.0 |
| Vistula System | |
| Vistula and branches | 646.5 |
| Kanal Zeran-Zegrze | 10.9 |
| Frisches Haff | 23.0 |
| Elblag | 9.2 |
| Total | 1,542.7 |
These principal routes are geographically well distributed and form essentially an H-shaped patten. Those of the well-developed Oder system serve the major centers of industry, trade, and population in western Poland, and the less-developed routes of the Vistula system serve the major urban and production centers in eastern and central Poland. The Oder-Vistula waterway in west-central Poland affords the only significant navigable east-west through route joining the north-south oriented Oder and Vistula systems.
Poland's generally flat topography results in meandering waterways characterized by slight gradients, low current velocities, and unstable flow regimes. The principal navigable routes have been improved considerably, and about one-half of their length consists of regulated streams. Natural streams and lakes, mostly in the Vistula system, account for about one-fourth, and the remainder are canalized streams and land-cut canals.
Structures on the principal waterways include locks, bridges, and regulatory dams and weirs. Most of the 70 locking installations are of concrete construction, and single-chamber arrangements are most common. Locks vary considerably in size throughout the network but are generally of uniform dimensions on individual waterways. Locking cycles range from about 20 to 45 minutes, and lifts from 4 to 26 feet. Of about 265 known bridge crossings, most are fixed-span structures, and all have adequate horizontal and vertical clearances for craft normally operating. Small regulatory dams and weirs, most of which are of concrete and masonry construction, are generally two- to four-gate sluices. The Vistula dam at Wloclawek is the largest structure on the waterways. The principal routes are adequately equipped with floating and shore-based navigational aids of standard design and specification including kilometer markers, channel markers, and signals on bridges and locks. Lighting is available at ports, locks, and bridges, but only the Oder as far upstream as Wroclaw is sufficiently marked with lights and audio equipped aids.
Despite their general adequacy in meeting present traffic demands, reconstruction and development of the inland waterway ports continue in an effort to reduce vessel turnaround time and to meet the projected requirements of the national transport plan. Old mechanical-handling equipment is gradually being replaced by modern high-capacity units augmented by smaller automotive cranes. Specialized quays and basins are being constructed or reconstructed at or near developing industries. Most of the inland ports have artificial basins, masonry quays and reinforced embankments for berthing, shoreside jib cranes and specialized bulk-cargo-handling equipment, extensive open but limited covered storage, and direct and/or road clearance from quayside. Principal ports in terms of annual cargo turnover and extent of facilities are: Kozle on the Oder and Gliwice on the Kanal Gilwicki, vital trans-shipment centers for upper Silesian industry and Czechoslovak transit cargo; Wroclaw on the Oder, a key manufacturing, shipbuilding, and transportation center; and Warsaw - including the port facilities in the suburb of Zeran - on the Vistula and the Kanal Zeran-Zegrze, the largest industrial center and transport hub on the Vistula system. Other ports of significance are Plock, Elblag, and Malbork on the Vistula system; Bydgoszcz and Kostrzyn on the Oder-Vistula waterway; and Cigacice, Glow, Malczyce, Nowa Sol, Opole, and Scinawa on the Oder system as well as the river port areas along the banks of the Oder in Szczecin. Those 16 ports provide 158,456 linear feet of suitable berthing space for waterway craft. The four principal ports provide about one-third of this total berthage and yearly handle about two-thirds of the total port turnovers. They also have the highest rates of tons handled per linear foot per day.
On 1 January 1971 the inland fleet consisted of 918 dumb barges, 345 self-propelled barges, 281 tugs, and 93 passenger vessels. The fleet has no tanker barges. The total cargo capacity amounted to 565,000 short tons, of which 30% was provided by self-propelled barges, 40% by dumb pusher barges, and 30% by conventional dumb barges. The aggregate cargo fleet horsepower approximated 158,000, of which 56% was supplied by self-propelled barges, 30% by pusher tugs, and 14% by conventional tugs. The 93 vessels of the
8
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070025-1
