Last year, river cruise shipping business in Russia brought 8 billion rubles, Russian Deputy Transport Minister said Thursday.
Victor Olersky told the 3rd International Conference "Saint Petersburg Sea Capital of Russia. Marine Tourism" that cruise ships transported via inland waterways 400,000 passengers in 2010.
At the same time, aging fleet of river vessels is a factor that hampers the development of the market.
The official said that the age of 59% of all ships operating on inland waterways of Russia is 40 or 60 years, 30% - 30-40 years, 9% - 20-30 years, and only 2% of them are below 10 years.
Some amendments to Russian legislation aimed at supporting the country’s shipbuilding and shipping might help update the river fleet, Victor Olersky said. Today the government is covering the costs of shipowners who are building vessels at Russian shipyards, he said.