Development of river transport infrastructure: strategic objectives, problems and prospects

Abstract

The article examines the current state of inland water transport infrastructure. An analysis of the achieved indicators on the volume of cargo transportation and cargo turnover was carried out, a comparison with foreign countries and a forecast of the development of transportation according to these indicators were presented. Special attention is paid to the issues of financing and maintaining the infrastructure of inland water transport. The comparison on the track component with ground, competing modes of transport (rail and road) showed that budget investments in the infrastructure of inland water transport are more efficient and rational. However, this was not reflected in the targets of the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation for changing the proportions of the distribution of freight traffic in the country's transport complex and increasing funding for the development of water transport infrastructure. The authors of the article identified a number of problems in the field of development of inland water transport, which are of an infrastructural nature, and also made proposals for their elimination.