Editing Transport in Turkmenistan (section)

== Riverways ==
{{main|Turkmen Riverways}}

The main inland waterways are the [[Amu Darya|Amu Darya River]], which runs along the northern border, and the [[Karakum Canal]], which runs from east to west from the Amu Darya near the Afghanistan border through Mary and Ashgabat to [[Bereket]].<ref name=cawater />

The official beginning of organized navigation on the Amu Darya occurred in 1873.<ref name="maritime">{{cite web|url=http://turkmenmaritime.gov.tm/river.html|title=River ways in Turkmenistan|publisher=turkmenmaritime.gov.tm|access-date=2014-03-27|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517142734/http://turkmenmaritime.gov.tm/river.html|archive-date=2014-05-17}}</ref> Steamboats began plying the Amu Darya in 1888, with reassembly and launching of a Russian-built steamboat delivered to Çärjew in pieces.<ref name=tstanbook>{{cite book|title=Туркменистан |first=P. |last=Skosyrev |date=1948 |publisher=Molodaya Gvardiya |place=Moscow |page=193 |language=ru}}</ref> Navigation was hindered by the constantly shifting sandbars and islands that the river current formed and swept away.<ref name=tstanbook /> In 1917 there were on the Amu Darya between 20 and 50 self-propelled vessels and about 1500 boats. In 1923 the Central Asian Turkmenabat Shipping Company began providing services to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and 10 regions of Kazakhstan, and transported loads by water across 1500 kilometers.

On August 15, 1992, the Turkmen River Shipping Company was established. In 2003, it was renamed State Concern [[Türkmenderýaýollary|Turkmen Riverways]] (Türkmenderýaýollary), but subsequently reverted to a state agency subordinate to a series of ministries. In February 2021 the production subsidiary of Türkmenderýaýollary was converted into an [[open joint-stock company]].<ref name=oao>{{cite news|url=https://business.com.tm/post/6821/turkmenistan-transforms-its-deryayollary-into-jointstock-company|title=Turkmenistan Transforms its Deryaýollary Into Joint-Stock Company|date=March 20, 2021|publisher=Business Turkmenistan}}</ref>

In the mid-20th century Soviet authorities began construction of the [[Karakum Canal]].  The first phase was approved in 1952, and construction began in 1954. By 1959 in the first phase the canal had connected the Amu Darya to the Murghab River. In 1961 the canal was extended to the Tejen River in a second phase. A third phase, to bring water to Ashgabat, was accelerated due to the 1961 drought, and water from the Amu Darya was first delivered to the capital city on May 12, 1962. Next followed construction of the Gurtly and Köpetdag Water Reservoirs, and then came the fourth phase, extension of the canal as far as Bereket, which was completed in 1981.  From Bereket, water is delivered to Balkanabat, Hazar and Turkmenbashy by pipeline.<ref name=cawater>{{cite web|url=http://www.cawater-info.net/ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=450:garagum-deryasy&catid=45:doc-turkmen&Itemid=37|title=Garagum derýasy|language=Turkmen|date=September 17, 2009|publisher=CAWATER-INFO}}</ref>  The 1,100-kilometer canal, designed mainly for irrigation, is navigable for 200 kilometers from the Amu Darya. The Amu Darya is navigable in Turkmenistan for about 320 kilometers downstream from the Afghanistan border to [[Turkmenabat]].