The Board of Federal Tariff Service (FTS) of Russia has approved new rates of fees for services provided by the Federal state Volga-Baltic Basin Department of Inland Waterways and Navigation. The new rates are increased by 16%, the FTS’ press release said.
The FTS announced fees increase after it had considered the Volga-Baltic Basin Department’s application taking into account the compensation of economically justified service charges for the use of inland waterways infrastructure.
The rate basis, according to FTS, includes expenses incurred by the Volga-Baltic Basin Department regulating traffic in 2010, and costs directly related to the safety of traffic on inland waterways and its infrastructure facilities administered by the Volga-Baltic department. The federal state Volga-Baltic Basin Department of Inland Waterways and Navigation is a regional government authority in the river transport system, the Russian Ministry of Transport and incorporates its nine branches that sustains the operation of the Volga-Baltic Waterway: Svirsky, Vytegra, Sheksninsky areas of hydraulic and navigation, Neva-Ladoga, Cherepovets, Novgorod, and Gvardeysky parts of waterways and shipping, as well as the Basin’s communications center.
The Volga-Baltic is one of the most important waterways, part of the unified system of deep inland waterways of the European part of Russia. This is a complex of engineering facilities, which includes 4900 km of inland waterways operated, including 3270 km with guaranteed dimensions, 11 locks with a pressure of 11 to 18 meters, three hydroelectric installations, 25 earthen dams and levees, 12 ferry crossings, 9 bridges, 8 lighthouses in Lake Ladoga, over 5000 waterway signs, 273 vessels of service fleet.