Border inspections were finally started at the Pälli Lock yesterday after a fax from the Russian authorities confirmed that the Saimaa Canal would be re-opened to shipping on Thursday afternoon.
The canal was due to be opened already last week, but an internal conflict between the Russian border officials and their Ministry of Transport postponed the opening.
Russian border officials were reported to have refused to start border inspections at the Pälli Lock because of inadequate facilities. The dispute was settled after Finland offered to rent a building near the lock for the use of the Russian border personnel.
The closure of the canal caused losses of several hundreds of thousands of euros to shipping companies as well as to Finnish industry, and hence claims for compensation are to be expected. The Saimaa Canal, which crosses the border between Finland and Russia, is an important part of the Finnish transport infrastructure, particularly in facilitating the movement of timber and other goods to and from Finland. The canal is also used by passenger vessels and pleasure boats.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications Juhani Korpela, who is the Finnish official in charge of the canal, attended a meeting regarding an extension of the term of lease on the Saimaa Canal in Moscow on Thursday. He reported that the Russian Ministry of Transport was not aware of any new kind of charge that was supposed to be applied to all vessels operating on the Saimaa waterway. According to earlier previous information, the purpose of such a charge was to finance the building of a new VTS (Vessel Traffic Services) station on the island of Uuras (Vysotsk) in the Vyborg Bay.
