РЕТРОСПЕКТИВНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РАЗВИТИЯ МОРСКИХ ПОРТОВ РОССИИ (КОНЕЦ XIX - НАЧАЛО XX ВЕКА)

Abstract

The article dwells upon the slow development of the Russian seaports and low rates of the cargo turnover compared to the growth of industrial and agricultural production. The low purchasing power of the population, high competition of the Russian export commodities in the world markets held back the increase in imports and exports. The railway network that had government preferences competed with seaports and hindered from growing coastal shipping. The Russian ports lagged behind the largest ports in Western Europe in terms of cargo turnover and technical equipment. In the Russian ports cargo operations took a lot of time due to the lack of berthing places, equipment and warehouses in the port area. The high expenditures of ship and cargo owners in seaports caused increased the freight cost and price for goods for the end consumers, which in general negatively influenced the development of the Russian economy. The small (relative to investment needs) amounts of private and equity capital, as well as high inflation, did not allow financing the construction and modernization of ports at the expense of private investors. Attracting the private capital was hindered by the high centralization of the seaport management system. The historically built ownership system in the Russian ports has identified almost the only source of financing - the state budget burdened with huge debts, whose priorities did not include the development of seaports. Their financing was hundreds of times less than the amount of financing ports in Western Europe and the USA. There has been analyzed the volume and dynamics of the turnover in the Russian seaports in comparison with the similar indicators of the Western European ports and ports of the United States, property relations in the seaports have been studied, and the levels of technological development have been presented. The seaports management system in Russia has been analyzed. The level of development of seaports was compared with the level of industrial and agricultural development.