OREANDA-NEWS. March 3, 2008. After standing idle for 46 days due to the abnormal cold winter the Turkmenabat-Farab pontoon ferry was put into operation. The hydraulic facility was disassembled on January 11 to let the frost mass through and then the river frozen over.

After the river started to thaw out the recovery work was started. The experienced workers had to connect 30 pontoons and 5 dry cargo barges with the total length of about 700 meters with the help of 4 diesel towboats. Another dry cargo boat delivered from Atamurat town was installed nearby the right bank of the Amu Darya River.

The crew of the AD-6 suction dredge deepened the river bed to let the bridge superstructures butt-jointed with the special flexible connection to ‘play’ on the water when the large-tonnage trucks are crossing the ferry.

The specialists of the Deryayollary Production Association of the Turkmendenizderyayollary Department built the Turkmenabat-Farab pontoon ferry 20 years ago. It is an important section of the Great Silk Route, which connects dozens of the countries in Asia and Europe. The unique facility combined the extraordinary engineering decisions. Each year hundreds of thousands of the trucks carry millions tones of cargo along the boat bridge. The Turkmenabat-Farab pontoon ferry acquired greater significance after starting the construction of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline on the right bank of the Amu Darya River.