Saimaa Canal

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Finnish. (June 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at [[:fi:Saimaan kanava]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fi|Saimaan kanava}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Saimaa Canal
Saimaa Canal
Specifications
Length	42.9 km (27 mi)
Maximum boat length	82.5 m (271 ft)
Maximum boat beam	12.6 m (41 ft)
Maximum boat draft	4.35 m (14.3 ft)
Maximum boat air draft	24.5 m (80 ft)
Locks	8
History
Construction began	1845
Date completed	1856
Geography
Start point	lake Saimaa, Finland
End point	Gulf of Finland near Vyborg, Russia

The Saimaa Canal (Finnish: Saimaan kanava; Swedish: Saima kanal; Russian: Сайменский канал) is a transportation canal that connects lake Saimaa with the Gulf of Finland near Vyborg, Russia. The canal was built from 1845 to 1856 and opened on 7 September 1856 (Old Style: 26 August 1856). It was overhauled and widened in 1963–1968.

A system of inland waterways and canals in the 120 interconnected lakes of the south-central and south-east part of Finland (Finnish Lakeland) are reached through the canal. The network of deep channels in Lake Saimaa with at least a draught of 4.2 m (14 ft) covers 814 km (506 mi). The deep channels extend all the way to Kuopio in Central Finland.