Freight traffic in the Volga basin of Russia’s inland waterways rose 4%, passenger traffic leaped by threefold in Jan-July
Total volume of different cargo carried from January through July by inland transport in the Volga Basin of inland waterways reached nearly 13 million tonnes, or 4% more than in the same period a year earlier, Rosmorrechflot statistic show.
In the seven-month period, passenger traffic in the Volga basin hit 285 500 people, which is approximately a threefold growth year-on-year.
Four hydraulic engineering complexes were busy during the shipping season handling vessel transits, namely Gorodetsky, Cheboksarsky, Samara and Balakovsky. Transit of cargo laden ships through the Gorodetsky lock increased by 12% on last year’s figures.
However, the Gorodetsky lock still remains a ‘bottleneck’ limiting river navigation. PortNews has reported that Rosmorrechflot plans to arrange design engineering as part of Gorodets locks No. 15 and No. 16, for the construction of an additional lock No. 15A and the creation of a navigable canal from Gorodets to Nizhny Novgorod. Rosmorrechflot says the project is scheduled for completion in 2024-2025.