Water transport is an integral part of a single transport complex. It is subdivided into marine and river fleets. Maritime transport, in turn, is divided into merchant fleet and trawler, or fishing.

Sea transport is of great importance in the transport system of Russia: it is in fourth place in terms of cargo turnover after rail, road and pipeline. Unlike other modes of transport, this mode of transport mainly transports export-import goods. External (foreign) transportation of goods prevails. Domestic (coastal) transportation is not of great importance, with the exception of the coasts of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Among coastal transportations, the main role is played by small cabotage, or navigation along its coasts within one or two adjacent sea basins. Large cabotage - navigation of ships between Russian ports, lying 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 cargoes transported by sea is as follows: oil 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 rail transport, since the scope of their application is almost identical.

Mineral construction materials (sand, gravel, crushed stone, etc.) occupy a leading position in the structure of transported goods.

4.4 The role of pipeline transport

Over the past 15-20 Russia has become the largest state producing oil and gas. Most of the extracted raw materials are transported abroad. Russia's budget is directly tied to world oil and gas prices, and therefore this mode of transport is given great importance in our country, as it is the most profitable mode of transportation. This type of transport is characterized by the lowest cost and is used for pumping oil and oil products, gas. According to the purpose, the main pipelines are divided into oil pipelines, product pipelines, gas pipelines. Recently, other types of pipelines have also been developed (pulp pipelines, pneumatic pipelines, etc.)

The advantage of this type of transport is also the ability to operate throughout the year, high labor productivity, minimal losses during transportation, the possibility of laying pipelines over the shortest distance almost regardless of the terrain.

4.5 The role of air transport in the national economy

In the transport system of Russia, air transport is one of the main types of passenger transport. In its total work, the transportation of passengers is 4/5, and cargo and mail - 1/5. The use of air transport gives a large time gain (due to the high speed of the aircraft and from the straightening of the flight path) in comparison with other modes of transport at medium and especially long distances. It is believed that at a distance of more than 1000 km, this type of transport predominates in passenger traffic. (See Appendix 7)

An important role is played by air transport to ensure communication with the poorly developed regions 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 in economic, political and social relations. And vice versa, underestimation of the importance of the transport system inevitably leads to a slowdown in the development of the state. The transport system must constantly develop adequately to the growing needs.

The underestimation and chronic backlog of logistics is largely due to a misunderstanding of the state significance as a special branch 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 modes 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 number of wagons; capacity of lines and traffic density of transport units; the length of highways and the number of cars gravitating towards them.

Like all sectors of the economy of our country, they require attracting investments, but this problem is still not solved due to the fact that foreign investors are afraid to invest in the Russian economy because of its unpredictability. Problems due to the lack of investment arise in the technical equipment of transport, especially of a domestic manufacturer, whose products lag behind their Western counterparts for many years due to the lack of development and implementation of these projects.

The role and importance of water transport for the economic activity of the Russian Federation.

Communication routes are a kind of vital system of the country's economic organism. In its unified transport system, an important place is occupied by inland water transport, which carries out transportation along the inland waterways (GDP) of Russia.

Inland water transport – a complex consisting of GDP (rivers, shipping channels, lakes and reservoirs), fleet, ports, ship repair and shipbuilding enterprises.

GDP is divided into natural (inland seas, lakes and rivers) and artificial (lock rivers, navigable canals, artificial seas, reservoirs). Main waterways are singled out, including international ones serving foreign trade transportation of several states (Danube, Oder, Rhine, Amur, Paraguay, Niger), and main waterways serving transportation between large areas within the country (Volga, Yangtze, Mississippi), as well as local serving intra-district communications.

Russia was the first of the European countries to complete (1975) the process of creating the Unified deep-water system of routes for the country and the continent as a whole, which connected all the seas washing Europe by shipping routes. There is no such water transport system in any country and on any continent (Fig. 1). The creation of an intracontinental system of deep waterways stimulated the construction of a new type of vessels (mixed "river-sea" navigation), carrying out transportation along all waterways of the specified system - rivers, lakes and seas, made it possible to reduce the delivery time of goods and the cost of transportation, eliminate transshipment operations in intermediate sea ports of the transportation route.

They are expanding GDP through: construction of hydroelectric facilities (Svirsky, Ivankovsky, Uglichsky, Rybinsk, Perm, Volgograd, Saratov, Nizhnekamsky, etc.); construction of canals (White Sea-Baltic, Moscow, Dnieper-Bug, Volga-Don, etc.); formation of reservoirs (in the Volga basin, West and East Siberian, etc.); development of port facilities (commissioning of new ports and berths, modernization of existing ones); extensive dredging and straightening work; improving navigation conditions on rivers with shallow depths (the so-called "small rivers").

The main feature of inland water transport is the relative cheapness of transportation. Its additional advantage is a lower specific consumption of metal and fuel for a comparable volume of transportation of straightening work; improving navigation conditions on rivers with shallow depths (the so-called "small rivers").

The main feature of inland water transport is the relative cheapness of transportation. Its additional advantage is a lower specific consumption of metal and fuel for a comparable volume of transportation and lower initial capital investments. The latter is greatly facilitated by the fact that inland water transport uses mostly natural waterways - rivers and lakes. Artificial canals and reservoirs are built for the purpose of their integrated use not only for transport, but also for energy, water supply to industry and agriculture, i.e. the cost of their use is only partly charged to transport.

Fig. 1.1 Scheme of a single deep-sea continental system

The advantage of inland waterway transport – high throughput of GDP, which is provided by the creation of traffic flows of ships.

The traffic flow of ships can be represented as a sequence of movement of heterogeneous ship vehicles that is uneven in time. Thus, the simultaneous movement of vessels and trains of large carrying capacity is possible while simultaneously overtaking them by high-speed vessels. The capacity of the Volga River is more than 100 million tons per navigation, which is much more than the capacity of a double-track railway of the same length.

In 1913, the length of navigable GDP was 64.6 thousand km. Carriage of goods on them reached 49.1 million tons, and the number of passengers transported exceeded 11 million people. These transportations were mainly on the rivers of the European part of Russia. The rivers of Siberia and the Far East were almost never used for navigation. Only a few ships sailed along the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena, Amur. The share of transportation along the rivers of the eastern basins was only 6% of the total cargo turnover in Russia.

During the years of the first five-year plans, grandiose work began on the reconstruction of the GDP. With the commissioning of the Volkhov hydroelectric complex in December 1926, the conditions for navigation of ships along the Volkhov improved significantly. The high-pressure dam of the Dneproges raised the water level at the rapids, and the Dnieper became navigable throughout. The commissioning in 1933 of the first hydroelectric complex on the Svir River increased the depth in its lower reaches, and in the same year the White Sea-Baltic Canal connected the White Sea with the Baltic Sea.

In the mid 30s. large-scale work was launched to create a Unified deep-sea network of the European part of the USSR. A cascade of hydroelectric facilities and reservoirs was built on the Volga, the first of them, Ivankovsky, was put into operation along with the Moscow Canal. In 1952, the construction of the Volga-Don Shipping Canal named after V.I. Lenin was completed, which connected the most important economic regions of the European part of Russia - the Urals, the Volga region, the Center - with the Donbass and the South. In 1955, the 2 largest hydroelectric facilities, Gorky and Kuibyshev, were put into operation on the Volga, as a result of which the guaranteed depth on the Volga and Kama increased by 0.9 m.

The commissioning in 1957 of the first hydroelectric complex on the Kama, upstream of Perm, contributed to the further improvement of navigation on the river. In 1964, the Votkinsk reservoir was put into operation, in the same year the reconstruction of the Volga-Baltic waterway named after V.I. Lenin was completed, which provided a reliable transport connection between the economic regions of the Center and the North-West. Russia. The construction of complex ship canals of the White Sea-Baltic, Volga-Don and Volga-Baltic waterways made it possible to connect the seas washing the European part of Russia with internal deep-water river routes and form a single transport network.

In the 50-60s. the construction of hydropower facilities on the eastern rivers of Siberia began. Hydroelectric power stations were built: Irkutskaya and Bratskaya on the Angara, Novosibirskskaya on the Ob, Bukhtarminskaya and Ust-Kamenogorskaya on the Irtysh, Krasnoyarskaya on the Yenisei.

Thanks to the creation of reservoirs, the powerful Siberian rivers have turned from local means of communication into transit routes connected by the Northern Sea Route with the ports of the European part of the country.

The waterways gravitate mainly to goods that do not require urgent delivery and are transported in large masses. These are the so-called bulk goods timber, oil, grain, ore, coal, building materials, chemical fertilizers,

Fig.1.2 Passenger ships.

salt. Some especially bulky cargoes are also transported exclusively by water.

The river fleet has a wide variety of vessels both in terms of purpose and carrying capacity. According to the purpose, ships can be cargo, passenger, mixed - cargo-passenger, of various carrying capacities from 150 tons to 5300 tons. Passenger ships are divided by passenger capacity and by the number of decks. There can be displacement and non-displacement hydrofoils and air cushions. These are the so-called high-speed vessels, the speed of which is 30 km / h or more. (Fig. 2,3)

Fig.1.3 Hydrofoil

On the main rivers, large tugs and pusher tugs with a capacity of 883 to 1472 kW, as well as pushers and tugs of medium power from 446 to 588 kW, which can transfer large and complex trains consisting of non-self-propelled vessels and rafts, operate. (Fig. 4.5 ,6)

Of great interest are ships of mixed (river-sea) navigation, which are designed for non-transshipment transportation of goods by sea and inland waterways. These vessels are limited to waves up to 6 points and to the distance from ports of refuge up to 50-100 miles. Such ships include ships of the type "Baltic", "Volgo-Balt", "Sormovsky", "Volgo-Tanker", etc. (Fig. 7)

Fig.1.4. Bux - pusher

Fig. 1.5 Non-self-propelled vessels driven by a pusher tug

Fig.1.6 Icebreaker.

Fig.1.7. Vessels of mixed "river-sea" navigation.

RIVER TRANSPORT, transports passengers and goods by waterways - natural (rivers, lakes) and artificial (canals, reservoirs). Allocate: the main river ways serving foreign trade transportations of several states; inter-district, serving transportation between large areas within the country; local, serving intra-district communications. The total length of river transport in the world is about 550 thousand km (1990s).

SEA TRANSPORT, a type of water transport that transports goods and passengers with the help of ships across the oceans, seas and sea channels. Maritime transport is divided into coastal (transportation between ports of one country) and international long-distance navigation. Passenger transportation by sea has almost been superseded by air and has survived mainly as recreational cruises.

VESSEL - this is a complex engineering structure capable of moving on water (conventional surface vessels), underwater (underwater vessels) and above water (hydrofoils and hovercraft). Fragments of trees were perhaps the first means of movement of people on water. Then they learned to tie several logs or bunches of dry reeds or papyrus into a raft. Even ancient people guessed to gouge a recess in a log in which a person could fit. So there was a boat. The boat is lighter and more maneuverable than a raft, and this is very important for sailing on water. The inhabitants of ancient Meatpotamia swam on inflated leather skins and in wicker baskets filled with resin and covered with leather. This method of manufacturing primitive ships was also known in Europe.

The frame, covered with bark or skin of a sea animal, was used for navigation along the rivers and seas by the inhabitants of northern Asia and America. And in ancient Egypt, 5000 years ago, ships were made from many pieces of wood, fastened to each other and caulked on the outside along the grooves and joints. The method of building ships from separate parts - frame and skin - led to an increase in size and improved seaworthiness of ships.

Initially, boats, rafts moved downstream with the help of poles and oars. Then a person learned to use the power of the wind to move ships: for the first time, sails appeared about 3000 BC in the Mediterranean Sea. In the 19th century, the fastest sailing ships were three and four-masted clippers. They transported valuable cargo (tea from China, wool from Australia) to Europe and America at speeds up to 16 knots (30 km/h). The speed record set by the tea clipper Cutty Sark - 21 knots (39 km/h) - has not yet been beaten by any of the sailing ships, even by special racing yachts.

With the advent of steam engines on ships, sails gradually lose their importance. The first river steamer "Clermont" was built in the USA in 1807 according to the project of R. Fulton, and the first sea steamer appeared in Russia in 1915. On the "Elizabeth" - this was the name of the ship - a steam engine was installed. A ship's boiler with a tall chimney was heated with firewood.

In 1894, the first ship was built with a steam turbine as the main engine. Now the turbine is the most powerful marine engine. Many ships operate steam turbines with a capacity of several tens and even hundreds of thousands of kilowatts.

In 1903, the world's first diesel tanker Vandal was built on the Volga. Since then, the widespread use of motor ships has begun - this is the name of ships in which the internal combustion engine (ICE) is the main engine. Inefficient steam reciprocating machines were gradually being replaced. They are almost never used on ships.

The heat generated in a nuclear reactor is also used to generate steam. Such installations first appeared on warships.

The first civilian nuclear-powered vessel, the Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin, has been operating in the Arctic since 1959.

On modern ships, the operation of the main engine, ship power plant and boiler plant is automated. They are controlled from a central post in the engine room or from the wheelhouse, observing their work using remote control devices.

Warships are equipped with weapons and special devices (for example, for dropping mines, launching missiles, placing smoke screens), they have cellars for ammunition, places for placing aircraft and helicopters. Fishing vessels have special fishing gear and equipment for prey processing.

One of the main parts of the ship is the propeller. The simplest mover is an oar that requires the application of muscular strength.

A more advanced mover was a sail using wind energy. The paddle wheel was the first mover to convert the work of a mechanical engine into the movement of a ship. But if on the river, where the water is relatively calm, rowing oars were used until recently, then at sea, with strong waves, they turned out to be of little use. The propeller, which replaced the paddle wheel, is now installed on almost all self-propelled ships, sea and river. The propeller, whose blades rotate around their own axis, can move the ship not only forward, like a sail, but also backward, while the direction of rotation of the main engine does not need to be changed. Other types of propulsion have some valuable qualities. For example, the most convenient for ships sailing in shallow water is a jet propulsion. This is a pump that creates a jet, the recoil force of which moves the ship. A vane propeller located on the bottom of a horizontal disk with vertical blades - allows the vessel to move not only forward and backward, but also sideways: to do this, you need to turn the propeller blades around its axis.

Ships. Water transport, transportation

By purpose, all modern vessels can be divided into 4 main groups: transport, fishing, military and various auxiliary (including service, sports, research, etc.)

Transport ships carry cargo and passengers. 97% of all ships in the transport fleet are cargo ships, and only 3% are passenger ships. Cargo ships are divided into dry-cargo and tankers, there is also a mixed group of dry-cargo and tankers.

Dry cargo ships are divided into universal, suitable for the transport of a variety of dry cargo, and specialized, adapted for cargo of one or more types, for example: refrigerated ships, timber-grain carriers, bulk cargo ships, ore carriers, bulk carriers - container carriers.

Recently, ships carrying cargo have been built - in packages (packet carriers), in containers (container carriers), in car trailers (trailer carriers), in railway wagons (ferries) and even in barges with a carrying capacity of 200-700 tons or more (lighter carriers). The main advantage of such vessels is fast loading and unloading.

Tankers, or tankers, are the largest among cargo ships (their carrying capacity reaches 500 thousand tons), although there are tankers with a carrying capacity of only a few hundred tons.

Due to the dangerous nature of the cargo, oil tankers are equipped with air-foam fire-fighting installations, fire extinguishing systems with steam and carbon dioxide, and a system for filling tanks with inert gas.

It is not surprising that the most developed of the ancient civilizations - Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek - originated about 4000 years ago on the shores of the seas or large rivers. Water transport made it possible to make rather long journeys and make contact with other tribes and peoples, exchanging information with them, engaging in primitive trade and establishing rudimentary economic relations.

River transport is most developed in Western Europe on the Rhine, in North America on the Mississippi.

Railway competition affected the level of technical development of the river fleet of the capitalist countries. During the post-war years, there are some signs of the technical development of river transport, in particular, the proportion of motorized vessels is increasing.

During the period of the Second World War, the British merchant fleet, despite the increased construction of ships to replenish military losses, decreased from 18.0 million tons at the beginning of the war to 14.9 million tons in the middle of 1945. Although by 1952 Great Britain had completely stopped the size of its merchant fleet (its tonnage even exceeded the military one by 3.9%), nevertheless, the post-war development of the fleet lagged far behind the growth of world tonnage and the share of the British fleet in it continued to fall. The US Navy, little affected by hostilities, more than settled down during the years of World War II (from 11.4 million tons in mid-1945), but mainly due to the mass production of low-speed and extremely uneconomical (consuming too much fuel) ships (types Liberty and Victoria). In the post-war years, as merchant fleets and other capitalist countries recovered and grew, US ships were increasingly squeezed out of international traffic and laid up or scrapped: as a result, the tonnage of the US navy decreased by 16% from 1947 to 1953.

The latest technical trend in the development of maritime shipping is to increase the proportion of motorized ships (32% of world tonnage in 1954), the transfer of steam ships from coal to liquid fuel (50% of world tonnage), and to increase the speed of merchant ships to 16-20 knots against 12 before the war. , increasing the specific weight of special tankers, refrigerators, timber carriers, ore carriers, increasing the size of vessels. Tankers with a carrying capacity of up to 60 thousand tons, passenger ships with a tonnage of up to 85 thousand tons are being built. t. In the composition of the world marine fleet, ships with a carrying capacity of 4 to 6 thousand tons make up 10.3% in terms of carrying capacity, from 6 to 8 thousand tons -37%, from 8 to 10 thousand, tons -12%, from 10 to 15 thousand tons -14.6%.

The main production assets of water transport from 1928 to 1953 increased six times. Due to the typed ships that replaced the obsolete ships, the river fleet has been updated. Of great importance is the introduction of freight motor ships, which make up to 15% of the total cargo turnover with delivery speeds that are not inferior to the speeds of block trains.

During the years of the five-year plans, the conditions for navigation on the rivers have been improved. Canals were built: the White Sea-Baltic, the Moscow Canal, the Volga-Don named after V. I. Lenin. The construction of the dam of the Dnieper power plant provided through navigation along the Dnieper. The formation of large reservoirs on the Volga, Kama and Dnieper created lacustrine conditions for navigation on these rivers. River routes carry 36.7% of the total volume of timber transportation, 21.5% of oil and oil products.

The share of river transport in the transportation of building materials (6%), coal (1.7%), bread (9%) is much less.

The marine merchant fleet, which suffered greatly during the Great Patriotic War, was replenished in the post-war years with a large number of steam and motor ships. In the sixth five-year period, the marine fleet was replenished with ships with economical engines and increased speeds: dry-cargo ships with a total carrying capacity of approximately 1,140 thousand tons, oil tankers - 460 thousand tons, passenger ships with a total capacity of 198 horsepower and tugboats - 230 thousand horsepower. The most important seaports have been reconstructed and developed: Odessa, Zhdanov, Nikolaev, Novorossiysk, Leningrad, Murmansk and Vladivostok. A number of new seaports have been created, especially in the northern and eastern regions of the country (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Nakhodka and others.)

Water transport in military affairs

Water transport (river, sea) supplements the work of railways, and in some cases independently carries out transportation. Maritime transport is of paramount importance in the operations of troops in coastal areas. The large carrying capacity of maritime transport and technical improvements make it possible to organize large-scale amphibious landing operations and their material support. River communications are used for parallel operation with rail and road transport, and in some cases serve as independent communications.

Maritime transport in Russia

Maritime transport is of great importance in the transport system of Russia: it ranks third in terms of cargo turnover after rail and pipeline transport.

Maritime transport also plays an important role in the country's foreign economic relations and serves as one of the main sources of foreign exchange.

This is due to the fact that, unlike other modes of transport, ships transport mainly export-import cargo. External (foreign) transportation of goods prevails. Domestic (coastal) transportation is not of great importance, with the exception of the coasts of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Among coastal transportations, the main role is played by small cabotage, or navigation along its coasts within one or two adjacent sea basins. Large cabotage - navigation of ships between Russian ports lying in different sea basins, separated by coastal territories of other states - is of lesser importance.

Maritime transport surpasses other types of transport in many technical and economic indicators: sea transportation over long distances is cheaper; sea ​​vessels, especially tankers, are distinguished by the largest unit carrying capacity, and sea routes - by practically unlimited throughput; the specific energy intensity of transportation is low.

At the same time, the dependence of maritime transport on natural conditions (especially in the conditions of freezing of the sea area), the need to create a complex and expensive port economy on the sea coasts, remoteness from the sea coasts of the main economic regions and centers of the country, relatively weak economic and foreign trade relations with countries, located outside of Europe limit its scope in Russia.

Due to insufficient depths, 60% of Russian ports are unable to receive large-capacity vessels. The production capacities of the ports allow to meet only 54% of the needs of cargo handling, the rest of the export-import cargo is processed in the Baltic States, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan.

Now there are 216 transshipment complexes for dry cargo ships and 26 tankers in Russia, 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. Only one portside elevator for receiving imported grain and one specialized complex for receiving imported raw sugar remained.

In terms of tonnage, the Russian merchant fleet ranks seventh in the world (16.5 million deadweight tons), but most of the ships are so physically worn out that they do not allow many of them to enter foreign ports. Of the 5.6 thousand vessels, 46% are fishing and fish transport, 1.1 thousand vessels are intended for the transport of general cargo, 245 vessels are oil tankers. The fleet lacks modern types of ships, such as lighter carriers, container ships, combination ships, sea ferries, Ro-Ro (i.e. ro-ro) ships.

The specifics of Russia's foreign trade and shipping by sea predetermined the predominance of bulk and volumetric cargo, primarily oil. The share of ore, building materials, coal, timber and grain cargoes is also significant.

The structure of the transport fleet is very irrational. The problems of maritime transport in Russia require an immediate solution, as they have a great impact on the economic situation in the country.

Inland water transport

Inland water transport (or river) is one of the oldest modes of transport. Russia has a large and extensive network of river routes and lakes. However, it plays a significant role either in those regions where the directions of the main transport and economic ties and river routes coincide (Volga-Kama river basin in the European part of Russia), or in poorly developed regions with an almost complete absence of alternative modes of transport (North and North-East countries).

The length of operated inland waterways in Russia has been declining in recent decades and currently stands at 89,000 km. The share of river transport in freight turnover is also falling (2% in 1998), since it cannot compete with other types of mainline transport, and above all with rail transport, the scope of which is almost identical in comparison with river transport.

This is due to the fact that the main mass flows 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. Freezing 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 and in speed. But it also has advantages: a lower cost of transportation, it requires less capital costs for the arrangement of tracks than in land modes of transport.

Moreover, river transport is practically turning into a specific type of technological transport, since over 70% of the goods transported by it are mineral building materials. It is economically unprofitable to transport the latter over long distances, since the coefficient of the transport component for mineral building materials is maximum for all types of transported goods. Therefore, the average distance of transportation of 1 ton of cargo by river transport is constantly decreasing and at present, taking into account all types of river communications, is less than 200 km.

The river fleet includes self-propelled vessels with a carrying capacity of 2-3 thousand tons, dry cargo ships of the Volga-Don type, tankers with a carrying capacity of 5 thousand tons and large barges. Since the beginning of the 1960s, river-sea vessels have been in operation, allowing navigation not only along rivers, but also in the coastal waters of the seas, which significantly reduces the volume of reloading work at the river-sea junctions. This type of vessel is used not only on inland river and sea routes, but also for export-import operations on lines connecting the Volga with the ports of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and other countries.

Mineral building materials (sand, gravel, crushed stone, etc.) occupy a leading position among the transported goods. Up to 3/4 of transported building materials are mined by means of river transport in riverbeds. The next most important cargo is timber. They account for more than 1/10 of the total volume of traffic. Almost 3/4 of all timber cargo is transported in rafts, and 1/4 - in the holds of ships. Therefore, the cost of transporting roundwood by river transport is several times less than by rail. Where possible, river routes are used as much as possible for the transport of timber in rafts. Transportation of oil, oil products, coal and grain is also relatively large.

Development of maritime transport

The development of Russia's maritime transport is determined by its geographical location, the nature of the seas washing the country's territory, the level of development of productive forces, and the international division of labor.

Russia has 39 ports and 22 port points. The length of the berths is 60.5 thousand km. Major ports are St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Nakhodka, Vladivostok, Vanino, etc. In connection with the development of natural resources of the Far North and the Far East, year-round navigation to Norilsk, Yamal, Novaya Zemlya is provided. Here the ports are of the greatest importance: Dudinka, Igarka, Tiksi, Pevek.

Changes in the geopolitical position of Russia have drastically reduced the possibility of using maritime transport in international trade, since most of the large and well-equipped seaports of the Black Sea and Baltic basins have gone to other states.

Now there are 216 transshipment complexes for dry cargo ships and 26 tankers in Russia, 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.

Only one portside elevator for receiving imported grain and one specialized complex for receiving imported raw sugar remained.

The entire sea area of ​​Russia is divided into 5 sea basins, in which work is carried out on the transportation of goods and passengers. Each of them gravitates to specific economic regions.

The historical factor determined the concentration of the main work of the sea transport of the former USSR in the large ports of the Black Sea-Azov and Baltic basins: they accounted for 2/3 of the total cargo turnover of the sea transport of the USSR. The transition to the jurisdiction of other states of the largest ports - Odessa, Ilyichevsk, Riga, Novotallinsky, Klaipeda, Ventspils and others - has led to the fact that the capacity of Russian seaports only satisfies its own needs by 1/2.

The first place in cargo turnover went to the Far East Basin (46.5% of all cargo shipped in 1994 by Russian sea transport), covering a significant territory of the Far East economic region. In this region, sea transport for the entire coast from the Bering Strait to Vladivostok is the main mode of transport and performs small and large cabotage, as well as international transportation.

Through the ports of the Far Eastern Basin (Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy, Vladivostok, Magadan, Nakhodka, Okhotsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Provideniya, Sovetskaya Gavan, Ust-Kamchatsk, Kholmsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), foreign trade relations with the countries of the Pacific region are carried out, as well as transport and economic connections with the coastal regions of the Far East. The largest here are the seaports on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan: Vladivostok, Nakhodka, the new Vostochny port located near it with large coal and timber terminals, as well as the port of Vanino on the line of the Vanino-Kholmsk railway sea ferry (Sakhalin Island).

In second place is the Black Sea-Azov basin (23.7% of shipped cargo), which occupies an advantageous geographical position and has access to the countries of Europe and the Middle East. A part of the territory of the North Caucasian economic region, a number of regions of the Central, Ural and Volga economic regions gravitate towards it.

Through the ports of the Black Sea basin remaining in Russia (Azov, Yeysk, Novorossiysk, Taganrog, Sochi, Tuapse, etc.), oil is mainly exported. The largest oil port in Russia in terms of cargo turnover, Novorossiysk, is located here with the Sheskha-ris deep-water oil pier, which allows servicing ships with a carrying capacity of up to 250 thousand tons. Tuapse oil port is also of less importance. The implementation of major oil projects in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, as well as Russia's need for the export of liquefied gas, created the prerequisites for the construction of a number of new oil and gas ports and berths on the Russian Black Sea coast. It is also planned to develop the Taganrog port and build a new large seaport on the Azov coast.

The third place is occupied by the Northern Basin (or the basin of the Arctic Ocean - 15.0% of shipped cargo), transporting cargo from four adjacent economic regions: Northern, Ural, West Siberian and partially East Siberian. The vessels of this basin carry out the transportation of goods for the population and enterprises of the entire coast of the Far North, i.e., they carry out large cabotage between such Arctic ports as Tiksi, the mouths of the Khatanga, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma rivers and the port of Pevek.

There are two ports in the Arctic Ocean basin - Murmansk on the coast of the Barents Sea and Arkhangelsk in the White Sea. They account for more than half of the cargo turnover of the entire basin. Arkhangelsk is a specialized timber export port of Russia. Murmansk is the only ice-free port of Russia in the north.

The ports of Dikson, Dudinka, Igarka, Tiksi, Pevek, located on the Northern Sea Route, are of great importance for providing the regions of the Far North of Russia. In the most heavily loaded western sector of the Northern Sea Route (Murmansk-Dudinka), year-round navigation has been established with the help of nuclear-powered icebreakers. On the eastern section (from Dixon to Provideniya Bay), navigation is carried out sporadically.

The Baltic basin occupies approximately the same place in terms of cargo shipments as the Arctic Ocean basin (14.5%). The Northwestern economic region, as well as a number of regions of the Volga-Vyatka and Ural economic regions, gravitate towards it. The access to this basin of the regions of the Volga-Vyatka and Ural economic regions is due to the high development of industry and external relations of a number of industries.

The main seaports here are: Baltiysk, Vyborg, Kaliningrad and the largest and most versatile Russian port in the Baltic - St. Petersburg. The port of Kaliningrad has a smaller cargo turnover. However, its importance for ensuring transport links between the enclave Kaliningrad region and the main territory of Russia can hardly be overestimated. To ensure Russia's foreign trade transport links across the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg in the Luga Bay, the construction of a new large seaport is planned.

The North Caucasian and Volga economic regions adjoin the Caspian basin (only 0.4% of shipped cargo). Through navigable rivers and canals, it is connected with almost all sea basins of the European part of Russia. Two relatively large ports operate here: Makhachkala and the combined sea and river Astrakhan. The first stage of the Olya deep-water port has been erected. In connection with the rise in the level of the Caspian Sea, significant difficulties are observed in the work of the Caspian ports, especially Makhachkala.

The structure of the transport fleet is very irrational. The problems of maritime transport in Russia require an immediate solution, as they have a great impact on the economic situation in the country.

Development of river transport

Russia has a large and extensive network of river routes and lakes. However, it plays a significant role either in those regions where the directions of the main transport and economic ties and river routes coincide (Volga-Kama river basin in the European part of Russia), or in poorly developed regions with an almost complete absence of alternative modes of transport (North and North-East countries).

There are more than 100,000 rivers in Russia, with a total length of about 2.5 million km, of which over 500,000 km are suitable for navigation.

There are main river routes serving international communications, inter-district ones, providing transportation of goods and people between large regions within the country, and local ones, providing intra-district communications.

The length of operated inland waterways in Russia has been declining in recent decades and currently stands at 89,000 km; also, the average transportation distance of 1 ton of cargo is constantly decreasing in river transport, and at present, taking into account all types of river communications, it is less than 200 km.

Inland navigable waterways belong to different river basins. The predominant part of freight traffic and cargo turnover is carried out by the shipping companies of three water transport basins: the Volga-Kama, West Siberian and North-Western.

Most of the turnover of river transport falls on the European part of the country. The most important transport river artery here is the Volga with its tributary Kama. In the north of the European part of Russia, the Northern Dvina, Onega and Ladoga lakes, the Svir and Neva rivers play a significant role. Of great importance for the development of river transport in the country was the creation of a unified deep-water system and the construction of the White Sea-Baltic, Volga-Baltic, Moscow-Volga and Volga-Don canals. In connection with the development of natural resources in the east of the country, the transport significance of the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena, and Amur is increasing. Their role is especially noticeable in providing areas of pioneer development, where there are practically no overland transport routes. At present, due to the economic crisis, there is a reduction in the volume of transportation of goods and passengers by river transport, the length of inland waterways, and the number of berths.

The Volga-Kama basin, serving the economically most developed and densely populated regions of the European part of Russia, is the main one. It accounts for more than 1/2 of the cargo turnover of the entire river transport of the country. The vast majority of traffic in this basin is carried out along the Volga, Kama and the Moscow Canal. The largest ports in the basin are: three Moscow (Southern, Western and Northern), Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd and Astrakhan.

In second place in terms of the volume of work performed is the West Siberian basin, which includes the Ob with its tributaries. Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Tobolsk, Tyumen, Surgut, Urengoy, Labytnangi are major ports here.

The third most important is the water transport basin of the European North. The main artery of the basin is the Northern Dvina with its tributaries Sukhona and Vychegda. The leading port of the basin is Arkhangelsk.

Important for the supply of Yakutsk and the industrial centers of Yakutia are the Lena and the port of Osetrovo, located at its intersection with the BAM.

The core of the water transport system is the Unified deep water system of the European part of Russia with a total length of 6.3 thousand km. It includes the deep-water sections of the Volga (from Tver to Astrakhan), the Kama (from Solikamsk to the mouth), the Moskva River, the Don, and inter-basin deep-water connections - the Moscow-Volga, Volga-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic, Volga-Don. Making up only 6% of the total length of inland waterways, this system performs over 2/3 of the entire transportation work of the country's river transport. Guaranteed depths of up to 4-4.5 m are provided on the waterways of the Unified Deep-Sea System.

Types of water transport

Water transport is used to transport people and non-perishable goods. Modern water transport is certainly slower than air transport, but it is more efficient when transporting large quantities of cargo.

By its nature, water transport has always been international. Barges, boats, ships or liners can act as a watercraft. Canals, rivers, seas, oceans - they all spread out in front of water transport. Ships carry chemicals, oil products, coal, iron ore, grain, bauxite and other substances.

In general, all types of water transport can be divided into the following types:

- bulk carrier (dry cargo) - cargo ships in Kyiv, which carry bulk cargo: ore or grain. You can recognize it by the large, box-shaped hatches from which the cargo is unloaded. Bulk carriers are usually very large for lakes, but there was a precedent for such ships to sail on the Great Lakes of Canada.

- tankers : cargo ships for the transport of liquid substances, such as crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, chemicals, vegetables, wine and more. Tankers carry a third of all cargo in the world.

- ro-ro (trailer ships) - cargo ships in which cargo is transported on wheels: cars, trucks, railway cars. They are designed so that the cargo can be easily rolled in and out in the port.

- tugboats - ships designed for maneuvering, pushing other watercraft in bays, the open sea or along rivers or canals. They are used to transport barges, non-working ships and so on.

- oyster ships - vessels used to lift things from the seabed in shallow water and in river water.

Coastal vessels (small coastal navigation vessel) are frame vessels that were used for trading within the same island or continent. Their flat bottom made it possible to pass between reefs where sea vessels could not enter.

-refrigerated ships - cargo ships are used to transport perishable products that require a special temperature: fruits, meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products, etc.

- container ships – cargo ships that are loaded with containers. They are the most common multimodal transport vessels. They use diesel fuel during work, the team: 20-40 people. A container ship can carry up to 15,000 containers per voyage.

- ferries - a type of water transport that serves to transport passengers and sometimes their transport from coast to coast. Sometimes ferries are used to transport vehicles or trains. Most ferries operate on a strict schedule. A multi-stop ferry, such as the one in Venice, is sometimes referred to as a waterbus or waterbus. Ferries are often an attribute of island cities, as they cost much less than tunnels and bridges.

Cruise ships are passenger ships for walks and recreation on the water. Millions of tourists use cruise ships every year.

These ships are updated regularly.

- cable ships - deep-sea vehicles in Kyiv, which are used for laying telecommunications, electrical and other cables.

- barges - flat ships that go mainly along rivers and canals and carry heavy cargo. Most barges cannot move on their own, so tugs are required for them. During the beginning of the industrial revolution, barges, which were transported with the help of special animals or people, were used on a par with the railway, but later fell out of favor due to the laboriousness and high cost of transportation.

The infrastructure of water transport includes ports, docks, piers, shipyards. In the port, ships are loaded or unloaded, they undergo technical inspection at the docks, and they are repaired there.

Maritime transport is important primarily because it provides a significant part of Russia's foreign trade relations. Domestic transportation (cabotage) is essential only for supplying the northern and eastern coasts of the country. The share of maritime transport in cargo turnover is 8%, although the mass of transported goods is less than 1% of the total. This ratio is achieved through the longest average transportation distance is about 4.5 thousand km. Passenger transportation by sea is negligible.

On a global scale maritime transport ranks first in terms of cargo turnover, standing out for the minimum transport of goods. In Russia, it is relatively underdeveloped, since the main economic centers of the country are far from the sea coasts. In addition, most of the seas surrounding the country's territory are freezing, which increases the cost of using maritime transport. A serious problem is country's outdated navy. Most of the ships were built over 20 years ago and should be scrapped by world standards. There are practically no ships of modern types: gas carriers, lighter carriers, container carriers, 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 such magnitude. About half of the Russian cargoes going by sea are served by the ports of other states. These are mainly the 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 East. Its main ports are rarely frozen Vladivostok and Nakhodka. Near Nakhodka, a modern port Vostochny was built with terminals for the export of coal and timber. The port of Vanino, located on the final section of the Baikal-Amur Railway, is also of great importance. A ferry operates in this port, connecting the railway network of mainland Russia with the network of Sakhalin Island (the port of Kholmsk).

In second place in terms of cargo turnover is the Northern Basin. 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 open all 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 largest is the Baltic basin. The main ports in it are St. Petersburg (freezing) and Kaliningrad (non-freezing). The use of the convenient Kaliningrad port is difficult, since it is separated from the main part of Russia by the territories of foreign states. Near St. Petersburg there is a small port of Vyborg, through which mainly timber cargoes go. The ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk are under construction.

In fourth place in terms of cargo turnover is the Cheriosea-Azov basin. Two non-freezing oil export ports are located here - Novorossiysk (the most powerful in Russia) and Tuapse. Maritime transport also includes transportation in the Caspian Sea. The largest here are the ports of Astrakhan (both sea and river) and Makhachkala, through which mainly oil cargoes go.

River transport

River transport (or inland waterways) was the main one in Russia until the end of the 19th century. At present, its significance is small - about 2% of cargo turnover and the mass of transported goods. Although this is a cheap mode of transport, it has serious disadvantages. The main one 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. On the territory of Russia, river transport is a seasonal mode of transport, since the rivers freeze for several months a year. The total length of navigable river routes in Russia is 85 thousand km. 3/4 of the goods currently transported by river transport in Russia are mineral building materials. Passenger transportation by river transport is insignificant, as well as by sea.

More than half of the cargo turnover of the country's river transport falls on the Volga-Kama basin. It is connected by canals 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, Severny, Yuzhny and Zapadny in Moscow, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd, Astrakhan. The second place in terms of cargo turnover is occupied by the West Siberian basin, which includes the Ob with tributaries. In it, in addition to building materials, a significant share in transportation is oil cargo. The main ports are Novosibirsk, Tobolsk, Surgut, Labytnangi, Tyumen. The third in Russia is the basin of the Northern Dvina with tributaries of the Sukhona and Vychegda. In it, a significant share in transportation is 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 main amount of cargo is delivered to these territories in the summer either from the south of the railway (via the Yenisei from Krasnoyarsk, along the Lena from Ust-Kut), or from river mouths, where cargo is delivered by sea.

Water transport Russia is divided into two types: sea and river transport.

Sea transport important because of the geographical position of Russia. Sea transportation is one of the cheapest modes of transport, due to the huge carrying capacity of ships, and the relatively straight routes of their movement. But this type of transport requires significant costs for the construction of ships and ports and is highly dependent on natural conditions. Maritime transport has a complex economy: fleet, ports, shipyards. In terms of the number of merchant ships, the Russian fleet is among the top five in the world, along with Japan, Panama, Greece, and the United States. But the average degree of depreciation of the fleet is more than 50%, and many types of vessels (tank, cargo-passenger, container) are lacking.

The growth of maritime traffic depends not only on the fleet, but also on the number of ports, on their throughput. Russia has 39 ports of various sizes, but only 11 relatively large ports. The distribution of the fleet and ports between sea basins, and, consequently, the role of these basins in Russian maritime transport is not the same.

The first place in cargo turnover belongs to the ports of the Pacific Basin (Vostochny, Vanino, Vladivostok, Nakhodka), which supply goods to the north-east of the country, maintain links with Asian countries and Australia. About 25% of the Russian fleet is concentrated here. The main disadvantage of this basin is its great remoteness from the most developed regions of the country.

In second place is the Baltic basin, which provides links with the countries of Europe and America. It has an exceptionally favorable geographical position. But here Russia has few ports (St. Petersburg, Vyborg, Kaliningrad).

Oil is mainly exported through the ports of the Black Sea basin (Novorossiysk). With the reconstruction of other ports (Tuapse, Anapa, Sochi), the importance of this basin in the transportation of other types of cargo will also increase. However, the development of the port economy here is in conflict with another important function of the Black Sea coast - recreation.

The Northern Sea Route passes through the seas of the Northern Basin, which is of great importance for the life support of the regions of the Far North and the export of the products of these regions to the "Mainland". The major ports of this basin are Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.

Rice. 1. Maritime transport of Russia

River transport plays an important role in those areas where high-water rivers flow, and the creation of land transport requires a lot of money and time. Mainly, these are areas of the North zone. It is advantageous to transport bulky goods along rivers that do not require fast delivery (timber, oil, grain, building materials).

The navigable river routes of Russia belong to different basins. The main among them is the Volga-Kama basin, to which the economically most developed part of the country gravitates. This is the core of the Unified deep-water system of the European part of Russia.

Rice. 2. River transport of Russia

Air transport is the only mode of transport covering almost all regions of the country. But due to the high cost, the volume of goods transported by it is small. Airplanes deliver goods to hard-to-reach areas, transport especially valuable or perishable products. The main specialization of air transport is the transportation of passengers over long distances. The main problem of air transport is the old fleet of aircraft.

The largest air hubs of the country are located in Moscow (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo airports), St. Petersburg (Pulkovo), Yekaterinburg (Koltsovo), Novosibirsk (Tolmachevo), Krasnodar, Sochi, Kaliningrad, Samara.