Inland water (river) transport. Geography Sea and river transport
Transport is one of the key sectors of any state. The volume of transport services largely depends on the state of the country's economy. However, transport itself often stimulates higher levels of economic activity. It frees up opportunities hidden in underdeveloped regions of the country or the world, allows you to expand the scale of production, connect production and consumers.
The special place of transport in the sphere of production lies in the fact that, on the one hand, the transport industry constitutes an independent branch of production, and therefore a special branch of investment of production capital. But on the other hand, it differs in that it is a continuation of the production process within the circulation process and for the circulation process.
Transport is an important component of the Russian economy, as it is a material carrier between regions, industries, and enterprises. Specialization of districts and their comprehensive development are impossible without a transport system. The transport factor influences the location of production; without taking it into account, it is impossible to achieve a rational placement of productive forces. When locating production, the need for transportation, the mass of raw materials of finished products, their transportability, availability of transport routes, their capacity, etc. are taken into account. Depending on the influence of these components, enterprises are located. Rationalization of transportation affects the efficiency of production, both individual enterprises and regions, and the country as a whole.
Transport is also important in solving socio-economic problems. Providing a territory with a well-developed transport system is one of the important factors in attracting population and production, is an important advantage for the location of productive forces and provides an integration effect.
The specificity of transport as a sector of the economy is that it itself does not produce products, but only participates in its creation, providing production with raw materials, materials, equipment and delivering finished products to the consumer. Transport costs are included in the cost of production. In some industries, transport costs are very significant, as, for example, in the forestry and oil industries, where they can reach 30% of the cost of production. The transport factor is especially important in our country with its vast territory and uneven distribution of resources, population and fixed production assets.
Transport creates conditions for the formation of local and national markets. In the context of the transition to market relations, the role of rationalization of transport increases significantly. On the one hand, the efficiency of an enterprise depends on the transport factor, which in market conditions is directly related to its viability, and on the other hand, the market itself implies the exchange of goods and services, which is impossible without transport, therefore, the market itself is impossible. Therefore, transport is a critical component of market infrastructure.
Maritime transport plays an important role in the country's foreign economic relations. It is one of the main sources of foreign currency. The importance of maritime transport for Russia is determined by its position on the shores of three oceans and the length of the maritime border of 40 thousand kilometers. Ports on the Baltic: Kaliningrad, Baltic, St. Petersburg, Vyborg; on the Black Sea: Novorossiysk (oil loading and cargo), Taganrog. Other major ports: Murmansk, Nakhodka, Argangelsk, Vladivostok, Vanino. Other ports (about 30) are small.
The production capacity of the ports allows meeting only 54% of the cargo processing needs. The main cargoes transported by sea are oil, ores, building materials, coal, grain, and timber. Large ports - St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Nakhodka, Vladivostok, Vanino, etc. In connection with the development of natural resources of the Far North and Far East, year-round navigation is provided to Norilsk, Yamal, Novaya Zemlya. Here the ports of greatest importance are: Dudinka, Igarka, Tiksi, Pevek. The construction of two ports in St. Petersburg is planned.
Russia has transshipment complexes for dry cargo ships and liquid vessels, but after the collapse of the USSR the country was left without complexes for transshipment of potassium salts, oil cargo and liquefied gas, without railway crossings to Germany and Bulgaria, there was only one port elevator for receiving imported grain and one specialized complex for acceptance of imported raw sugar. 60% of Russian ports are not able to accommodate large-capacity vessels due to insufficient depths. The structure of the transport fleet is very irrational. The problems of Russian maritime transport require immediate solutions, as they have a great impact on the economic situation of the country.
River transport has a small share in the cargo and passenger turnover of Russia. This is due to the fact that the main flows of bulk cargo are carried out in the latitudinal direction, and most navigable rivers have a meridional direction. The seasonal nature of river transportation also has a negative impact. Freeze-up on the Volga lasts from 100 to 140 days, on the rivers of Siberia - from 200 to 240 days. River transport is inferior to other types in terms of speed. But it also has advantages: lower transportation costs and requires less capital costs for the construction of tracks than in land modes of transport. The main types of river transport cargo are mineral building materials, timber, oil, petroleum products, coal, grain.
Most of the river transport turnover occurs in the European part of the country. The most important transport river route here is the Volga with its tributary the Kama. In the north of the European part of Russia, a significant role is played by the Northern Dvina, Lake Onega and Lake Ladoga, and the river. Svir and Neva. The creation of a unified deep-water system and the construction of the White Sea-Baltic, Volga-Baltic, Moscow-Volga and Volga-Don canals were of great importance for the development of river transport in the country.
In connection with the development of natural resources in the east of the country, the transport importance of the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena, and Amur is increasing. Their role is especially noticeable in providing areas for pioneer development, where there are practically no overland transport routes.
Russia's internal river shipping routes are 80 thousand kilometers long. The share of inland water transport in total cargo turnover is 3.9%. The role of river transport is sharply increasing in a number of regions of the North, Siberia and the Far East.
The main one in Russia is the Volga-Kama river basin, which accounts for 40% of the river fleet's cargo turnover. Thanks to the Volga-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic and Volga-Don canals, the Volga has become the core of a unified water system of the European part of Russia, and Moscow has become a river port of five seas.
Other important rivers of European Russia include the Northern Dvina with its tributaries, the Sukhona, Onega, Svir, and Neva.
In Siberia the main rivers are the Yenisei, Lena, Ob and their tributaries. All of them are used for shipping and timber rafting, transportation of food and industrial goods to separate regions. The importance of Siberian river routes is very significant, due to the underdevelopment of railways (especially in the meridional direction). Rivers connect the southern regions of Western and Eastern Siberia with the Arctic. Oil from Tyumen is transported along the Ob and Irtysh. The Ob is navigable for 3600 km, the Yenisei - 3300 km, the Lena - 4000 km (navigation lasts 4-5 months). The ports of the lower reaches of the Yenisei - Dudinka and Igarka - are accessible to ships traveling along the Northern Sea Route. The largest transshipment points for goods from rivers to railways are Krasnoyarsk, Bratsk, Ust-Kut.
The most important river artery in the Far East is the Amur. Navigation is carried out along the entire length of the river.
Currently, due to the economic crisis, there is a reduction in the volume of cargo and passenger transportation by river transport, the length of inland waterways, and the number of berths.
In terms of cargo turnover, sea transport ranks 4th after railway, pipeline and road transport. The total cargo turnover is 100 billion tons. It plays a leading role in transport services in the regions of the Far East and Far North. The importance of maritime transport in Russia's foreign trade is great. It accounts for 73% of cargo shipments and more than 90% of international cargo turnover.
Advantages of maritime transport over other modes. Firstly, transport has the largest single carrying capacity, secondly, unlimited capacity of sea routes, thirdly, low energy consumption for transporting 1 ton of cargo, fourthly, low cost of transportation. In addition to the advantages, maritime transport also has significant disadvantages: dependence on natural conditions, the need to create a complex port facility, and limited use in direct sea communications.
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia was left with 8 shipping companies and 37 ports with a total cargo processing capacity of up to 163 million tons per year, of which 148 million tons are in the Baltic and Northern basins. The average age of Russian ships is 17 years, which is significantly worse than the corresponding characteristics of the world merchant fleet. There are only 4 large shipyards left in the country, 3 of which are located in St. Petersburg. Only 55% of the deadweight of the Union's transport fleet became Russian property, including 47.6% of the dry cargo fleet. Russia's maritime transport needs are 175 million tons per year, while the country's fleet is capable of transporting approximately 100 million tons per year. The remaining seaports on Russian territory can handle only 62% of Russian cargo, including 95% of coastal cargo and 60% of export-import cargo. To transport incoming imported food and export goods, Russia uses the ports of neighboring countries: Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.
In 2000, the rise of the port industry. Russian ports in the foreign trade subsystem are increasing their competitiveness with the ports of neighboring countries. Our sailors, with great difficulty, still managed to preserve the unique system for ensuring the functioning of the Northern Sea Route. Inland water transport remains the key to providing resources to the northern and remote territories of Russia. But water transport, like road, rail and air transport, lacks sources of funding. It is necessary, first of all, to preserve the created system of shipping routes with a length of over 100,000 km, on which there are over 700 thousand navigable hydraulic structures. And today we must take care of the technical condition of these structures so that they are reliable in the future.
River transport plays a significant role in intra- and inter-district transportation of the country. The advantages of river transport lie in natural routes, the arrangement of which requires less capital expenditure than the construction of railways. The cost of transporting goods by river is lower than by rail, and labor productivity is 35% higher.
The main disadvantages of river transport are its seasonal nature, limited use due to the configuration of the river network, and low speed. In addition, large rivers in our country flow from north to south, and the main flows of bulk cargo have a latitudinal direction.
The further development of river transport is associated with the improvement of navigation conditions on inland waterways; improvement of port facilities; extension of navigation; increasing the capacity of waterways; expansion of mixed rail-water transport and river-sea transport.
Water transport is an integral part of a single transport complex. It is divided into sea and river fleets. Maritime transport, in turn, is divided into merchant fleet and trawler, or fishing.
Maritime transport is of great importance in the Russian transport system: it ranks fourth in terms of cargo turnover after railway, road and pipeline. Unlike other types of transport, this type of transport mainly transports export-import cargo. External (overseas) cargo transportation predominates. Inland (coastal) transportation is not of great importance, with the exception of the coasts of the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Among coastal shipping, the main role is played by small cabotage, or navigation along one's shores within one or two adjacent sea basins. Large cabotage - the navigation of ships between Russian ports located in different sea basins, separated by the coastal territories of other states, is of less importance.
When using sea transport, the natural factor must be taken into account. The structure of cargo transported by sea is as follows: petroleum products predominate here, and the role of ore, building materials, timber and grain cargoes is also significant.
Inland water transport Recently, it cannot withstand intense competition and is used less and less. It competes with railway transport, since their scope of application is almost identical.
In the structure of transported cargo, the leading position is occupied by mineral construction materials (sand, gravel, crushed stone, etc.).
4.4 The role of pipeline transport
Over the past 15-20 years, Russia has become the largest state producing oil and gas. Most of the extracted raw materials are transported abroad. The Russian budget is directly tied to world prices for oil and gas, and therefore this type of transport is given great importance in our country, since it is the most profitable method of transportation. This type of transport has the lowest cost and is used for pumping oil and petroleum products and gas. According to their purpose, main pipelines are divided into oil pipelines, product pipelines, and gas pipelines. Recently, other types of pipelines have been developed (pulp pipelines, pneumatic pipelines, etc.)
The advantages of this type of transport are also the ability to operate throughout the year, high labor productivity, minimal losses during transportation, and the ability to lay pipelines over the shortest distance, almost regardless of the terrain.
4.5 The role of air transport in the country’s economy
In the Russian transport system, air transport is one of the main types of passenger transport. In its overall work, the transportation of passengers accounts for 4/5, and cargo and mail - 1/5. The use of air transport provides a large time gain (due to the high speed of the aircraft and the straightening of the flight path) compared to other modes of transport at medium and especially long distances. It is believed that at a distance of over 1000 km, this type of transport predominates in passenger transportation. (See Appendix 7)
Air transport plays an important role in providing communications with poorly developed areas of Siberia and the Far East, where it is almost the only means of communication.
Conclusion
The role of transport in the Russian economy is enormous. Transport has a comprehensive impact on the economic development of the country. Where the role of logistics is correctly understood, the state successfully develops economically, politically and socially. Conversely, underestimating the importance of the transport system inevitably leads to a slowdown in the development of the state. The transport system must constantly develop to meet growing needs.
The underestimation and chronic lag of logistics is to a large extent due to a lack of understanding of state importance as a special sector of the national economy. The transport factor is necessarily taken into account when locating production in a particular region; it is one of the most important.
The country's national economy annually suffers losses due to the disproportion in the technical equipment of various types of transport, and especially between the level of development of permanent structures and the rolling stock fleet, for example, between the capacity of stations and the size of the car fleet; line capacity and traffic density of transport units; the length of roads and the number of cars gravitating towards them.
Like all sectors of the economy of our country, they require attracting investment, but this problem is still not being solved due to the fact that foreign investors are afraid to invest money in the Russian economy because of its unpredictability. Problems due to lack of investment arise in the technical equipment of transport, especially from domestic manufacturers, whose products lag behind their Western counterparts for many years due to the lack of development and implementation of these projects.
The role of water transport in Russia has always been enormous. In which regions of the country is it especially high? What natural features of rivers and lakes are important for the development of water transport? How do human activities and the development of science affect the possibilities of using water transport in the country’s economy?
Water transport includes river (inland waterway) and sea transport. The importance of river transport is greatest in the Volga region, Volga-Vyatka region, the European North, northern Siberia and the Far East, where it accounts for over a third of all transported cargo.
For the development of river transport, large lowland navigable rivers (Volga, Neva, Svir, Dnieper, Don, Northern Dvina, Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Angara, Lena, Amur, etc.) and lakes (Ladoga, Onega, etc.) are needed. For most regions of Russia, river transport is seasonal, which is explained by freeze-up in the winter. A great difficulty for river transport in the north of Siberia and the Far East is ice jams that form in the spring. A huge role is played by navigable river canals (Moscow Canal, Volga-Baltic Canal, White Sea-Baltic Canal, Volga-Donskoy Canal), which together with the system of rivers and lakes form a single deep-water system of the European part of Russia, thanks to which Moscow is called the “port of five seas.” The emergence of new types of ships (hydrofoil, hovercraft, river-sea, container ships, modern icebreakers) significantly expands the capabilities of river transport.
Maritime transport is of great importance in the coastal regions of Russia: in the North-Western region (Baltic Sea), in the North Caucasus (Azov-Black Sea and Caspian basins), in the European North and northern Siberia (exit to the North Atlantic and the Northern Sea Route), and also in the Far East (Pacific Basin). For the development of maritime transport in Russia, it is necessary to modernize existing and build new deep-sea ports, modernize the existing merchant fleet and build modern specialized ships (ferries, tankers, gas carriers, container ships, lighter carriers, refrigerators, nuclear icebreakers, etc.), as well as the development of cruise fleet. Without the development of water transport, it is impossible to develop the regions of the Far North and develop Russia's foreign trade.
Freight river transport of the Russian Federation, created during the years of the planned economy, has now lost its position as the main freight carrier serving enterprises in the river shipping area. This is reflected in the reluctance of the market economy to spend huge amounts of money to support the inefficient activities of river transport and the industry it serves in the winter. The economic policy of using the Russian river fleet in winter to operate in the seas of Europe and Asia (“River - Sea”) ultimately brings nothing but harm, because the fleet serves the economies of other states, transporting their cargo 9-10 months a year. In addition, the economic efficiency of using river vessels in the seas, due to their design features, is significantly lower than when using sea vessels. In order for Russian river transport to work effectively all year round for the Russian manufacturer, it is necessary to solve the problem of forced downtime of the river fleet in the winter.
What are the main advantages of transportation by sea?
The need for sea transport is obvious. Are there any advantages to sea transport? Eat:
lower cost compared to other modes of transport. The construction of large specialized ships and the use of the latest technological advances, including for organizing loading and unloading operations in ports, have in recent years reduced the share of transportation in the final price of goods from 11% to 2%. The construction of large-capacity vessels provides an “economy of scale”: the greater the vessel’s carrying capacity, the cheaper the delivery of a unit of goods.
high load capacity. No type of land or air transport is capable of transporting as much cargo at one time as a sea vessel. The Norwegian supertanker Knock Nevis simultaneously transported over 0.5 million tons of oil.
practically no restrictions on cargo dimensions and maritime transport capacity. Even if port parameters (for example, depth) do not allow a large-capacity vessel to approach the shore, modern technologies for transshipment of goods on the high seas or in a roadstead are used.
unified standards. Modern vessels are built according to uniform standards, which significantly speeds up the loading and unloading processes.
the use of containers for sea transportation protects cargo not only from criminal attacks and accidental damage, but also from the adverse effects of nature.
high security. In general, worldwide losses from shipping by sea account for only 1–1.5% of the cost of goods. Maritime transport has the lowest proportion of disasters and accidents.
unified legal field. Maritime transport transportation is regulated by uniform international documents - the Brussels and Athens Conventions.
What are the main disadvantages of this type of transportation?
As analysts of the Lithuanian community of the Masterforex-V Academy note, sea transportation also has disadvantages:
low speed compared to other modes of transport. Moreover, this indicator is influenced not only by the speed of the vessel, but also by the time spent on loading and unloading operations. However, modern technologies make it possible to significantly speed up this work, not least through the use of multimodal transportation, when the cargo is immediately transferred to another mode of transport (rail or road);
technological difficulties of the loading and unloading complex. The multimodal system allows you to reduce the number of repackings and save cargo.
dependence on weather conditions. Adverse weather conditions can increase the time it takes to transport goods by sea and make loading and unloading operations more difficult or even suspended.
dependence on the capacity of ports, canals and other structures.
sea piracy.
significant investment. The construction of modern maritime transport and ports with developed infrastructure is a very expensive undertaking.
The importance of river transport for the national economy must be considered in inextricable connection with other modes of transport that form a unified transport system. Despite the relatively small share of river transport in the total freight turnover of the country's transport in many regions, as well as in the transportation of a number of goods, it plays a leading role. Transport costs for the delivery of bulk cargo by waterways in large volumes and over long distances are, as a rule, significantly lower than for other modes of transport. This is facilitated by significant depths on the main inland waterways, allowing the use of large-capacity vessels (the carrying capacity of dry cargo ships reaches 5,300 tons, oil tankers - 9,000 tons) and heavy-duty trains with a carrying capacity of up to 22,500 tons. At the same time, high labor productivity in transportation and relatively low specific fuel costs are achieved , low energy and metal consumption. River transport is also indispensable for the delivery of non-standard large-sized and heavy equipment.
The main advantage of river transport is that it uses natural waterways, with the exception of artificial shipping channels. There is no other country in the world with such a widely developed network of inland waterways as the Soviet Union. The total length of rivers in our country is over 2.3 million km (of which about 500 thousand km are suitable for navigation and timber rafting). Of the 70 large rivers flowing through Europe and Asia, half are in the Soviet Union. Among them are such large rivers as the Volga, Dnieper, Don, Kama, Pechora, Irtysh, Ob, Yenisei, Angara, Lena, Amur, etc. The USSR has more than 2 thousand large lakes. The most significant include Ladoga, Chudskoye, Onega, Beloye, Balkhash, Baikal.
The total length of the country's operating shipping routes is about 126.6 thousand km. Waterways with guaranteed depths are of greatest importance, allowing for the uninterrupted transportation of goods and passengers. The total length of tracks with guaranteed depths is about 84 thousand km, of which more than 21.1 thousand km are artificial.
Thanks to the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Volga-Baltic Waterway named after V.I. Lenin, the Moscow Canal, the Volga-Don Canal named after V.I. Lenin, the main rivers of the European part of the country are united into a single water transport system, providing transport connections for those located here economic regions. The construction of a cascade of large hydroelectric power stations and the creation of reservoirs on the Volga, Kama, Don and Dnieper turned it into a single deep-water system (USS) with guaranteed depths of 3.5 m, and 90% of the length - 4 m or more. By implementing a number of technical measures, it is possible to further increase the length of waterways with guaranteed and increased depths. Currently, there are over 160 lock chambers in operation on the country's waterways.
About 96% of the total length of exploited waterways is equipped with navigable facilities; approximately 60% of routes have illuminated navigation signs.
The inland waterways of our country are characterized not only by their great length, but also by significant branching, which allows them to be effectively used for transport services to remote areas. Almost all large main rivers have numerous side tributaries with relatively shallow depths - up to 1.2 m. They are classified as small rivers. There are especially many such rivers in Siberia and the Far East. Of the total length of waterways used by shipping companies of the eastern basins for transport purposes (72.7 thousand km), small rivers account for about 55%, including for the Irtysh Shipping Company their share (by length) is about 59%, Western Siberian - 67%, Yenisei - 55% and Lensky United - 58%.
The country's blue roads annually transport large volumes of bread and other agricultural products, timber, salt, coal, ore, products from various industries, construction materials and other cargo. In 1985, the country's river transport transported 632.6 million tons, and it took first place in the world in terms of the volume of cargo transportation in tons.
Waterways, including small rivers, play a particularly important role in transport services for the newly developed regions of the North, Siberia and the Far East, where other land modes of transport are, as a rule, poorly developed due to natural and climatic conditions. Here river transport plays a pioneering role, delivering machinery, equipment, food and other goods to geological exploration and survey parties to hard-to-reach areas. For newly discovered fields planned for industrial exploitation, a wide variety of cargo is delivered via waterways in significant volumes, thereby ensuring accelerated development and then development of these areas. River transport delivers a large number of national economic goods to the oil and gas producing regions of Western Siberia, the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, the diamond and gold mining enterprises of Yakutia, the timber industry, the oil workers of Sakhalin, and many important construction sites.
Recent years have been characterized by the most intensive development of transportation along the rivers of Siberia and the Far East.
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Maritime transport is important primarily because it provides a significant part of Russia’s foreign trade relations. Internal transportation (cabotage) is essential only for supplying the northern and eastern coasts of the country. The share of sea transport in cargo turnover is 8%, although the mass of transported cargo is less than 1% of the total. This ratio is achieved due to longest average transportation distance - about 4.5 thousand km. Passenger transportation by sea is insignificant.
Globally maritime transport ranks first in terms of cargo turnover, standing out for its minimal cargo transportation. In Russia it is relatively poorly developed, since the main economic centers of the country are located far from the sea coasts. In addition, most of the seas surrounding the country's territory are frozen, which increases the cost of using sea transport. A serious problem is the country's outdated fleet. Most of the ships were built more than 20 years ago and should be decommissioned by world standards. There are practically no ships of modern types: gas carriers, lighter carriers, container ships, ships with horizontal loading and unloading, etc. There are only 11 large seaports on the territory of Russia, which is not enough for a country of this size. About half of Russian cargo transported by sea is serviced by ports of other countries. These are mainly ports of the former Soviet republics: Odessa (Ukraine), Ventspils (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia), Klaipeda (Lithuania). The use of seaports of other states leads to financial losses. To solve this problem, new ports are being built on the coasts of the Baltic and Black Seas.
The leading sea basin in Russia in terms of cargo turnover is currently the Far Eastern. Its main ports are Vladivostok and Nakhodka, which rarely freeze. A modern Vostochny port with terminals for the export of coal and timber cargo was built near Nakhodka. The port of Vanino, located on the final section of the Baikal-Amur Railway, is also of great importance. This port operates a ferry connecting the railway network of mainland Russia with the network of Sakhalin Island (port of Kholmsk).
The Northern Basin is in second place in terms of cargo turnover. The main ports in it are: Murmansk (non-freezing, although located beyond the Arctic Circle) and Arkhangelsk (timber export, both sea and river). Large ports also operate at the mouth of the Yenisei. These are Dudinka, through which ore concentrates are exported from Norilsk, and Igarka, through which timber and forest products are transported. The section of the Northern Sea Route between the mouth of the Yenisei and Murmansk is year-round, which is ensured by the use of powerful icebreakers, including nuclear ones. Navigation east of the mouth of the Yenisei is carried out only 2-3 months in the summer
The third most important is the Baltic Basin. Its main ports are St. Petersburg (freezing) and Kaliningrad (non-freezing). Using the convenient Kaliningrad port is difficult, since it is separated from the main part of Russia by the territories of foreign countries. Near St. Petersburg there is a small port of Vyborg, through which mainly timber cargo is transported. The ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk are being built.
The Cheriomorsk-Azov basin is in fourth place in terms of cargo turnover. There are two ice-free oil export ports here - Novorossiysk (the most powerful in Russia) and Tuapse. Maritime transport also includes transportation across the Caspian Sea. The largest ports here are the ports of Astrakhan (both sea and river) and Makhachkala, through which mainly oil cargo passes.
River transport
River transport (or inland waterway) was the main one in Russia until the end of the 19th century. At present its importance is small - about 2% of cargo turnover and weight of transported goods. Although this is a cheap mode of transport, it has serious disadvantages. The main thing is that the directions of river flow often do not coincide with the directions of cargo transportation. Expensive canals have to be built to connect neighboring river basins. In Russia, river transport is a seasonal mode of transport, since rivers freeze for several months a year. The total length of navigable river routes in Russia is 85 thousand km. 3/4 of the cargo currently transported by Russian river transport is mineral and construction materials. Passenger transportation by river transport is insignificant, as well as by sea.
More than half of the country's river transport freight turnover falls on the Volga-Kama basin. It is connected by channels with neighboring basins (Don, Neva, Northern Dvina, White Sea), being the basis of the Unified deep-water system of the European part of the country. The largest river ports are also located here: Nizhny Novgorod, Northern, Southern and Western in Moscow, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd, Astrakhan. In second place in terms of cargo turnover is the West Siberian basin, which includes the Ob and its tributaries. In addition to construction materials, oil cargo makes up a significant share of transportation. The main ports are Novosibirsk, Tobolsk, Surgut, Labytnangi, Tyumen. The third in Russia is the Northern Dvina basin with its tributaries Sukhona and Vychegda. A significant share of its transportation is made up of timber cargo. The main ports are Arkhangelsk and Kotlas.
River transport is of great importance in the northeastern part of Russia, where there are virtually no networks of other modes of transport. The bulk of cargo is delivered to these territories in the summer either from the south of the railway (along the Yenisei from Krasnoyarsk, along the Lena from Ust-Kut), or from the mouths of rivers, where cargo is delivered by sea.
