On the competitiveness of inland waterway transport

Abstract

The most important direction in the development of the country's transport system is to ensure a balance between modes of transport. This is stated in the strategic documents for the development of both the transport complex of the Russian Federation as a whole, and individual program documents for the modes of transport. First of all, we are talking about the existing imbalances in the pace and scale of development of various modes of transport. The consequences of the imbalance of the country's transport system in inland waterway transport are especially noticeable. The urgency of solving this particular problem is indicated in the «Strategy for the development of inland water transport of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030». The analysis of the development of the transport complex in Russia in recent years indicates that the dynamics of the transportation of goods and passengers by inland water transport since 2014 can be characterized as stagnation. This state of inland waterway transport was largely facilitated by the presence of limiting areas on a single deep-water system, a low level of fleet renewal, outdated infrastructure and a number of other factors. The way out of this situation for inland waterway transport is seen in the search for ways to increase its competitiveness based on the development of multimodal transportation and its inclusion in logistics chains with rail and road transport, as evidenced by the experience of European countries.