Swedish Maritime Administration Seeks Permit to Widen and Deepen Karlskrona Fairway

The Swedish Maritime Administration (Sjöfartsverket) has applied for a permit to widen and deepen part of the approach to the Port of Karlskrona, with construction expected to take one to two months if approved.

The Land and Environment Court application concerns water operations in fairway 271 in the area south of the channel separating Aspö and Tjurkö. It came after several years spent on planning, investigations, and consultations.

Sjöfartsverket said the existing route does not provide the safety margins or accessibility sought for current traffic. Poor weather and low visibility increase grounding and collision risks, while larger vessels cannot pass each other along the section covered by the project.

The authority attributed the constraints to larger vessels using Karlskrona and more frequent scheduled ferry services.

Widening the route would mean ships have less need to time their passages around other traffic, improving access and navigational reliability.

The planned work will include dredging and some blasting within and beside the fairway. The two work areas will cover a combined seabed surface of about 76,000 square metres.

One area will be deepened to a minimum of 12 metres, while a smaller section would have a minimum depth of 12.5 metres.

Two fixed navigation marks will also be installed.

Sediment samples and nature surveys formed part of the environmental investigations for the application. Investigators also completed noise calculations to assess possible effects on nearby residents.

The environmental impact assessment will set out the anticipated consequences and the protective measures proposed.

Sjöfartsverket’s announcement gave an anticipated construction period of one to two months.

The Karlskrona scheme forms part of the Sjöfartsverket’s wider fairway programme, conducted with ports, municipalities and other public authorities to adapt shipping routes and improve navigational safety.