According to preliminary data of Federal Marine and River Transport Agency (Rosmorrechflot), cargo transportation by inland water ways of the Russian Federation declined by 6% to 24.8 mln t in January-May 2015.
In the reported period, cargo handling in river ports totaled 24.2 mln t (-23%, year-on-year).
Cargo turnover of inland water transport companies totaled 17.1 bln t-km (-19%, year-on-year).
Almost 43,000 lockage operations for 63,100 fleet units were performed in the period (down 23.2% and 23.4% accordingly).
Major factors causing the decrease: shifting of cargo flows to other types of transport due to limited operation of Gorodets locks, reduction of demand for aggregates delivered by inland water transport and underloading of vessels due to shallow waters at inland water ways.