ODESSA, JUNE, 27TH, 2008, CONTEXT-PRICHERNOMORIE — The Vice-president of the Odessa regional state administration Pyotr Khlytsov has declared that ecological threat, «Danube — Black sea» channel represents no threat nor to the Black sea, neither to the nearest territories, IA “Context-Prichernomorie” correspondent reports.

P. Khlytsov has declared this yesterday, on June, 26th, at the press conference on results of the international expert conference «Safety of navigation and ecological safety in a transboundary context of the Black Sea basin» which took place in Odessa under aegis of OSCE.

«There is no question of the channel «Danube — Black sea» existence because the channel exists. For today more than 1400 vessels have passed through this channel. The question of ecological safety is solved on the basis of all conclusions which we have today, that means that «Danube — Black sea» channel represents no threat nor to the Black sea, neither to the nearest territories, — P. Khlytsov has noted.

INFORMATION: Basic characteristics of the Deep-water ship course «Danube-Black sea»: the general length — 172,2 km, Deep-water ship course line on natural channels: port Reni — Izmailsky Chatal — length 44,1 km; Izmailsky Chatal — port Vilkovo — length 98 km; port Vilkovo — Black sea (through Starostambulsky and Bustry branches) — length 17 km. Vessel traffic — round-the-clock, bilateral and adjusted (for comparison: vessel traffic on the Romanian channels is unilateral and only in the daytime).