Igor Shevchuk, Executive Director of FSUE “Rosmorport”, took part in a joint meeting of the Board of the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport and the Public Council at Rosmorrechflot to summarize the results of marine and inland water transport activity in 2024.

The event was chaired by Andrey Tarasenko, Head of Rosmorrechflot. The meeting was attended by Roman Starovoit, Minister of Transport of Russia, Alexander Poshivay, Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, Viktor Deryabkin, Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Opening the meeting, Roman Starovoit thanked all the employees of Rosmorrechflot and its affiliates for their work. The Minister of Transport of Russia emphasized that the maritime fleet in today's difficult conditions first of all ensured the transport sovereignty of our country.

“Today international trade with friendly countries for the Russian Federation is carried out at the expense of the maritime fleet, and, of course, our task is to ensure uninterrupted, accident-free and, most importantly, safe operation of the fleet for the benefit of our country's economy,” Roman Starovoit noted.

Andrey Tarasenko in his report on the results of the industry in 2024 and the definition of plans for 2025 announced the main industry indicators for 2024. Last year, there was a slight decrease in cargo transshipment in seaports - by 2.3%, to 863.8 million tons, while the transshipment of chemicals, mineral fertilizers, containerized cargo, and grain showed positive dynamics against the background of a decrease in cargo turnover of coal, ferrous metals, oil and oil products.

Baltic basin seaports showed stable performance – cargo turnover remained at the level of 2023. Cargo transshipment continued to grow in the seaports in the Caspian basin, while cargo turnover decreased in the Far East, Arctic and Azov-Black Sea basins. According to the results of work in 2024, Russian shipping companies transported almost 32 million tons of cargo.

“Russia's seaports already have the capacity to handle 1.4 billion tons of cargo. The vast majority of measures to increase seaport capacity are implemented with the participation of private investors without attracting federal budget funds. Investment projects implemented this year in seaports in the Leningrad, Murmansk, Kaliningrad regions, Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories have increased capacity by almost 33 million tons,” Andrey Tarasenko said.

He added that in 2025 it was planned to achieve an increase in the capacity of seaports in the amount of 31.4 million tons through the implementation of investment projects in Murmansk, Ust-Luga, Vanino, Tuapse and Taman.

The Head of Rosmorrechflot emphasized that in 2024 FSUE “Rosmorport” with the involvement of 13 dredging convoys had carried out repair dredging in the offshore part of the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal in the amount of about 7 million cubic meters to maintain the previously achieved depths for the passage of vessels with a draft of 4.5 meters. Work will continue in 2025 with an evaluation of the scientific approach to the canal sediment accumulation.

The board meeting traditionally included the awarding of the winners of the Industry Leader annual competition of the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport based on the results of 2024, where FSUE “Rosmorport” was awarded two prizes. The enterprise was recognized as the winner in the nomination “The Best Transportation Infrastructure Entity in the Field of Transportation Security” and was also awarded a diploma in the nomination “The Best Organization Providing Services in the Field of Ensuring Navigation (Marine/River)”.

Roman Starovoit presented departmental awards of the Ministry of Transport of Russia to distinguished employees of water transport organizations. Leonid Barkovsky, an employee of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch, was awarded the Petr Gubonin Medal for his labor achievements and many years of conscientious work in transportation.

Leonid Barkovsky has been working on the enterprise's vessels for almost 13 years. From 2012 to 2023, he was second assistant captain on the icebreaker Saint Petersburg, senior assistant captain on the icebreaker Moskva and pilot vessel Dmitry Sirotkin, captain of the tugboat Tolbukhin.

In 2023-2024 Leonid Barkovsky was the captain of the innovative dual-fuel ferry Marshal Rokossovsky, with his extensive maritime experience and outstanding professionalism ensuring its uninterrupted navigation during this period on the strategically important line Seaport of Ust-Luga – Seaport of Kaliningrad. Currently he holds the position of shift assistant captain of the pilot vessel Lotsman Fedorov.