[citation needed] The Eurasia concept is one of a few extra or expanded canals being considered between the basins of Azov–Black and Caspian Seas to improve ease and speed of commerce.
Construction of six low pressure shipping locks on the eastern slope of the watershed could greatly reduce the mass of excavation and lower its daily fresh water requirements by a third, to approximately 1.5 cubic km.
A canal connecting the Black and Caspian Seas was approved in May 1932, and construction began that year in the West Manych River valley.
Biodiversity of fish fauna was considerably increased over the first 15 or 20 years following construction of the tandem reservoir system, and some species gained importance as a fishery.
Biodiversity of fish fauna and its productivity might be improved by construction of the canal to supply Mancy-Gudilo Lake with fresh water to reduce salinity.
and the completion of construction of the Manych Ship Canal would favour further growth of cargo traffic between the Caspian and Azov-Black Sea basins.
Construction of additional processing capacity for oil and gas fields on the Russian Caspian territory would produce 15 million tons of cargo per year by 2020.
Oil from the Caspian shelf oilfield could be directly transported by tankers to processing capacities of Lukoil and KazMunayGas on the Black Sea shore without trans-shipments.
Construction of the Canal can become a key factor of formation of industrial clusters adjacent to the shipping route within the republics of Kalmykia and Dagestan, the territories of Stavropol and Krasnodar Krai, and the Rostov and Astrakhan regions of southern Russia.
Construction of the Manych Ship Canal would link the Caspian and Azov Seas and provide an outlet to world oceans for southern Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and northern Iran.
Construction of the Manych Ship Canal can become a comprehensive approach to the development of arid areas possibly minimizing negative environmental consequences of earlier projects in the Manych-Chograi ecosystem.
Positive consequences of implementation of the project would include: Completion of construction of Manych Ship Canal would lead to emergence of manufacturing activities, a significant decrease of unemployment rate, normalization of migration, an increase of incomes, and improvement of the general well-being of the population.
A lack of employment leads to the drift of the population away from the region, while a narrow range of choice of needed professions, as a rule, limited to agriculture and husbandry, brings highly skilled specialists, among them graduates of the best colleges or universities of Russia, to look for a job away from home.
A ship canal allows shipment of a wider variety of cargo than pipeline systems limited to products of the hydrocarbon process industry.
The ship canal would become an important factor in the development of the manufacturing industry of the republics of Kalmykia and Dagestan, Stavropol and Krasnodarskiy Territories, Rostov, and Astrakhan Regions.
Such spills would be difficult to localize and could negatively influence the unique natural features of the Volga-Akhtuba inter-river area if transported by strong currents along the navigation channel into numerous shoals and ducts.
A shipwreck of a tanker spilling 5,000 tons of oil near Volgograd could damage the whole lower part of the Volga, including protected areas and nature reserves.
Water levels in the Caspian Sea down to true altitude of -29 m reduce the depth of the lower Volga and restrict ship movement in this part of the Volga-Don Waterway.
To foresee all the aspects of environmental safety in the arid zone of the South of Russia, basic research on prognostics and modeling of climatic volatility is required.
Risk factors include: Constructing the canal invert and banks with concrete or similar materials could diminish shoreline erosion and decrease under flooding and soil salinization from percolating water losses.
"Предварительная оценка влияния завершения строительства Манычского судоходного канала (канала "Евразия") на социально-экономическое развитие Юга России" - Вестник Института комплексных исследований аридных территорий, 2008 №2 (Arasha Bolaev "Preliminary estimation of influence of completion of construction of the Manych Ship Canal (the Eurasia Canal) on the socio-economic development of the South of Russia", Herald of the Institute of Complex Research of Arid Territories, 2008 №2)