The Minister noted at the meeting that the Ministry of Transport was currently drafting the inland water transport development strategy up to 2030. This document aims to make inland water transport more attractive for consignors, investors, the population and market participants. Moreover, the strategy is called upon to improve safety standards of the inland water transport network.
Director of the Department of State Policy for Maritime and River Transport at the Ministry of Transport Konstantin Palnikov said inland water transport annually carried over 140 million tonnes of freight and 20 million passengers.
Mr Palnikov noted that seasonal factors, obsolete port hydro-technical facilities, reloading equipment and fleet, as well as the existence of sections hampering river traffic, negatively affected the state of inland water transport.
The strategy provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of various elements of the inland water transport network. This makes it possible to draft scientifically sound proposals and development models of inland water transport up to 2030, to substantiate specific measures to modernise the fleet, ports and inland waterways, and to establish multi-modal logistics centres, as well as state-support measures for inland water transport.
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On July 18, 2013, Maxim Sokolov inspected an upgraded road section – entry point to Samara from the M5 Urals Motorway. The Minister was shown strategic projects to develop the road transport network in the Samara Region.
Source: Ministry of Transport
