Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait was closed to traffic on May 31 due to the transiting of the Pioneering Spirit vessel, which will carry out the construction of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline’s offshore section, Doğan News Agency has reported.
Ferry lines have also been suspended.
It arrived at the Çanakkale Strait early on May 30, according to the vessel’s Swiss owner, Allseas.
Officials from Allseas told state-run Anadolu Agency the vessel’s final destination would be Anapa on the northern Black Sea coast in Russia, where the first pipe-laying for the Turkish Stream project will start. The 382-meter-long and 124-meter-wide vessel is expected to arrive in Anapa on June 2.
A shipping data revealed that a Maltese-flagged ship departed from the Netherlands on May 13.
The pipes for the pipeline will start from Anapa and will be laid over a 900-kilometer route under the Black Sea to reach the Thrace region of Turkey along the Black Sea coast.
The pipeline is a transit-free export gas pipeline which will not only stretch across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey but will further extend to Turkey’s border with neighboring countries.
One line is expected to supply the Turkish market, while a second line will carry gas to southern and southeastern Europe. Each line will have the throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
