Today, Russian river transport is going through hard times. However, people who are directly involved in this field (and trying to develop it) notice that this statement over the years has become a familiar excuse in the mouths of many entrepreneurs and statesmen, who thus cover up the shortcomings of their own work.
River transport - an ancient occupation
One of the brightest representatives of the company trying to develop and make money on passenger river transport is the Cheboksary port, which has an ancient history and good prospects.
In 1809, His Imperial Majesty established the Russian expedition of water communications. The newly formed organization was called upon to streamline data on the navigational characteristics of the Volga and other large rivers. The country's territory was divided into water districts - and the marina, which was destined to turn into a river port (Cheboksary) over time, was assigned to the third of them.
The current capital of the Chuvash Republic is the old city, mentioned in some ancient chronicles in the XIV century. A successful location at the intersection of large waterways (previously Cheboksary was quite full-flowing) persistently dictated to the village the role of a convenient transportation hub on the road to Asia. So the river port (Cheboksary), we can say, originated several centuries ago and was quite popular among the people.
Leafing through yellowed pages
There are many historical works devoted to the Chuvash Republic. Many of them are based on a thorough study of documents of the past and give a certain idea of the scope of Cheboksary shipping of those times. For example, the bookkeeping books discovered (if I may say so) indicate that local businessmen did not shy away from water transportation, had their own ships and actively transported goods with their help.
In the “ledgers” of a Cheboksary merchant for the first 40 years of the 19th century, fifty ship owners are mentioned who used their water transport to conduct business. In 1832 alone, 10 merchants sent more than two dozen loaded ships. In those days, Cheboksary was the champion of the Kazan province in the number of its own vessels: more than 70. Unfortunately, years have changed a lot, and today the largest river ports do not include the capital of Chuvashia.
The rapid development of the beginning of the century and the post-revolutionary desolation
With the advent of steamboats, river traffic received a new impetus to development. Not only freight, but also passenger ships began to scurry along the Volga. According to the recollections of local residents, in the second half of the 19th century, three large companies served those who wanted to travel by water: “Plane”, “Caucasus and Mercury” and “On the Volga”.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Cheboksary river port was the largest in terms of shipment of bread (more than a hundred ships went in a year) and consisted of seven marinas. After the revolution, shipping life froze for a long time - at best, three landing stages were ready to accept vessels passing upstream or downstream.
Slowly, slowly
Nevertheless, the Cheboksary river port developed. In the late 1920s, the city acquired a boat for transporting goods and passengers (its capacity was weak, only 26 people, but during the season in 1927 it managed to transport almost 25 thousand people, one and a half thousand cattle and fifty tons of cargo).
In 1935, on the “fifteen-year name day”, the Chuvash Autonomy received two more boats - as a gift from Nizhny Novgorod. These were much larger, everyone could take on board up to 160 passengers. During the war, they "went to the front" and, unfortunately, did not return. But the self-propelled ferry, acquired on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Chuvashia (it was called “20 years of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic”, therefore it was lovingly called the “Twenty” in the common people), plowed the Volga waters for many years after the end of the Second World War.
Official status
Peacetime brought long-awaited peace, the country rushed forward - and the Cheboksary river port also “woke up”: during the first five-year period, freight traffic increased by 8 times, and passenger traffic - by 20. During this period, river transport in general is very intensively developing, the number of ships is increasing, it is being purchased new loading equipment.
By the way, until the end of the 60s of the last century, the city of Cheboksary officially did not have a port - the local marina received this status only in 1968. By that time, for three years already, a local hydroelectric power station was under construction (the foundation pit was flooded in the 80th).
After the construction was completed, the idea arose to renew the port, even laid the foundation of a new administrative building (1984), but as a result, a laudable initiative was left until better times, which came only after the collapse of the Union.
Breathe new life
In 1992, it was decided to return to construction. At the same time, the idea was born of not just confining a building to managerial staff, but designing a whole complex designed to equip a favorite resting place for citizens - the embankment above the reservoir (locals often call it the gulf).
Here, almost all significant events of the city and republican scale take place, so such an initiative did not look superfluous at all.
Today, the leisure industry is one of the revenue items that the Cheboksary river port can be proud of. The address of the main building (the very center of the city) provides a lot of advantages for cafes, restaurants and shops that operate on the territory.
Target activity
However, this is not the main earnings of the company. The main source of profit here is the extraction of non-metallic building materials (mainly sand and gravel), which are actively traded by the port. Shipments are carried out from the fairly modern marina "Gremyachevo" (Gremyachevsky pr., 39), built relatively recently, in 2006.
Now this is almost the only pier that has the equipment to use it as a cargo river port: Cheboksary is only at the beginning of a long way in the development of river traffic: today other means are more popular.
Until now, there is no possibility of delivering rail to / from the pier by rail, but the company has a rather large fleet of vehicles and independently delivers crushed stone and sand in Cheboksary and Novocheboksarsk, simultaneously fighting local bureaucratic arbitrariness: in 2014, the press widely covered the scandal that had come from -for attempts by the authorities to deprive the company of earnings. In that battle, the Cheboksary river port survived and today continues to extract materials.
The company strives to diversify its activities, offering even such exotic services as celebrating a wedding (or other event) on the boat, promising excellent service and an unforgettable experience.
Transport node
Today, the number of marinas allows one and a half dozen steamships to be received at the same time (including 6 cruise liners), but today it cannot be said that the port uses its full potential.
The company bitterly complains about the unprofitability of passenger traffic, despite their popularity. In early May 2015, the port's management announced losses incurred during the past season in the amount of 1.9 million rubles, in connection with which it suggested that the administration of the republic take part of the costs. The enterprise itself is not able to maintain an acceptable (and, by the way, very moderate) price level, and their increase will inevitably lead to a decrease in the number of passengers.
As a result of the compromise, only the most requested flights were included in the schedule: to Sosnovka and to the beach, and even those are constantly under threat of cancellation.
The river port honestly warns of possible changes: the information phone number (58-00-53) exists and is indicated, therefore it is better to call and check the schedule so as not to get into trouble.
Surely passenger transportation would have found a new life and brought more income if the river transport workers and the administration of the city (republic) were able to find some reasonable balance between the number of flights (in this light, the cancellation of early trips announced by the company seems quite appropriate), the price of tickets (here subsidies from the authorities) and the introduction of unconditional stability in the traffic schedule.
Work is underway in this regard: after all, the passenger river port in Cheboksary enjoys both love and popularity among the local public.
Cheboksary and tourism
However, the visitors also: the company has the most direct relation to tourism and its development. In this regard, the city of Cheboksary is very attractive: an interesting excursion program, judging by the reviews, is very popular with connoisseurs of cognitive relaxation.
The authorities of the republic are making considerable efforts to increase the flow of tourists - and the riverport, as far as possible and capable, is involved in this dynamic process. Many travelers arrive in Cheboksary on cruise liners - an increasing number of routes provide for a stop here.
In this light, it becomes clear that the progressive development of the port and associated infrastructure promises excellent prospects for both the enterprise and the capital of Chuvashia.