VIRTUAL PORT TALK: Iron Gates
Channel: Leonard Miron
Date: 23/05/2020

THE IRON GATES

In Romanian: Porțile de Fier, in Serbian: Đerdapska klisura, in German: Eisernes Tor is a gorge on the Danube River. It forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania. In the broad sense it encompasses a route of 134 km (83 mi)
The gorge lies between Romania to the north and Serbia to the south. At this point, the river separates the southern Carpathian Mountains from the northwestern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The Romanian side of the gorge constitutes the Iron Gates natural park, whereas the Serbian part constitutes the Đerdap national park.
The riverbed rocks and the associated rapids made the gorge valley an infamous passage for shipping. In 1831 a plan had already been drafted to make the passage navigable. The results of these efforts were slightly disappointing. The currents in the Sip Channel were so strong at 15kts (8m/s) that, until 1973, ships had to be dragged upstream along the canal by locomotive.
The construction of the joint Romanian-Yugoslavian mega project commenced in 1964. In 1972 the Iron Gate I Dam was opened, followed by Iron Gate II Dam, in 1984, along with two hydroelectric power stations,two sluices and navigation locks for shipping.
The construction of these dams gave the valley of the Danube below Belgrade the nature of a reservoir, and additionally caused a 35 m rise in the water level of the river near the dam. The old Orșova, the Danube island of Ada Kaleh (below) and at least five other villages, totaling a population of 17,000, had to make way. People were relocated and the settlements have been lost forever to the Danube.