Maritime transport is important primarily because it provides a significant part of Russia’s foreign trade relations. Internal transportation (cabotage) is essential only for supplying northern and east coasts countries. The share of sea transport in cargo turnover is 8%, although the mass of transported cargo is less than 1% of the total. This ratio is achieved due to longest average transportation distance - about 4.5 thousand km. Passenger transportation by sea is insignificant.
Globally maritime transport ranks first in terms of cargo turnover, standing out for its minimal cargo transportation. In Russia it is relatively poorly developed, since the main economic centers of the country are remote from sea coasts. In addition, most of the seas surrounding the country's territory are frozen, which increases the cost of using sea transport. A serious problem is the country's outdated fleet. Most of the ships were built more than 20 years ago and should be decommissioned by world standards. There are practically no ships of modern types: gas carriers, lighter carriers, container ships, ships with horizontal loading and unloading, etc. There are only 11 large seaports on the territory of Russia, which is not enough for a country of this size. About half of Russian cargo transported by sea is serviced by ports of other countries. These are mainly ports of the former Soviet republics: Odessa (Ukraine), Ventspils (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia), Klaipeda (Lithuania). The use of seaports of other states leads to financial losses. To solve this problem, new ports are being built on the coasts of the Baltic and Black Seas.
The leading sea basin in Russia in terms of cargo turnover is currently the Far East. Its main ports are Vladivostok and Nakhodka, which rarely freeze. A modern Vostochny port with terminals for the export of coal and timber cargo was built near Nakhodka. The port of Vanino, located on the final section of the Baikal-Amur Railway, is also of great importance. This port operates a ferry connecting the railway network of mainland Russia with the network of Sakhalin Island (port of Kholmsk).
The Northern Basin is in second place in terms of cargo turnover. The main ports in it are: Murmansk (non-freezing, although located beyond the Arctic Circle) and Arkhangelsk (timber export, both sea and river). Large ports also operate at the mouth of the Yenisei. These are Dudinka, through which ore concentrates are exported from Norilsk, and Igarka, through which timber and forest products are transported. The section of the Northern Sea Route between the mouth of the Yenisei and Murmansk is operational year-round, which is ensured by the use of powerful icebreakers, including nuclear ones. Navigation east of the mouth of the Yenisei is carried out only 2-3 months in the summer
The third most important is the Baltic Basin. Its main ports are St. Petersburg (freezing) and Kaliningrad (non-freezing). Using the convenient Kaliningrad port is difficult, since it is separated from the main part of Russia by the territories of foreign countries. Near St. Petersburg there is a small port of Vyborg, through which mainly timber cargo is transported. The ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk are being built.
The Cheriomorsk-Azov basin is in fourth place in terms of cargo turnover. There are two ice-free oil export ports here - Novorossiysk (the most powerful in Russia) and Tuapse. Maritime transport also includes transportation across the Caspian Sea. The largest ports here are the ports of Astrakhan (both sea and river) and Makhachkala, through which mainly oil cargo is transported.
River transport
River transport (or inland waterway) was the main one in Russia until late XIX V. Currently its importance is small - about 2% of cargo turnover and weight of transported goods. Although this is a cheap mode of transport, it has serious disadvantages. The main thing is that the directions of river flows often do not coincide with the directions of cargo transportation. Expensive canals have to be built to connect neighboring river basins. In Russia, river transport is a seasonal mode of transport, since rivers freeze for several months a year. The total length of navigable river routes in Russia is 85 thousand km. 3/4 of the cargo currently transported by Russian river transport is mineral and construction materials. Passenger transportation by river transport is insignificant, as well as by sea.
More than half of the country's river transport freight turnover falls on the Volga-Kama basin. It is connected by channels with neighboring basins (Don, Neva, Northern Dvina, White Sea), being the basis of the Unified deep-water system of the European part of the country. Here are the largest river ports: Nizhny Novgorod, Northern, Southern and Western in Moscow, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd, Astrakhan. In second place in terms of cargo turnover is the West Siberian basin, which includes the Ob and its tributaries. In addition to construction materials, oil cargo makes up a significant share of transportation. The main ports are Novosibirsk, Tobolsk, Surgut, Labytnangi, Tyumen. The third in Russia is a swimming pool Northern Dvina with the tributaries of the Sukhona and Vychegda. A significant share of its transportation is made up of timber cargo. The main ports are Arkhangelsk and Kotlas.
River transport is of great importance in the northeastern part of Russia, where there are virtually no networks of other modes of transport. The bulk of cargo is delivered to these territories in the summer either from the south of the railway (along the Yenisei from Krasnoyarsk, along the Lena from Ust-Kut), or from the mouths of rivers, where cargo is delivered by sea.
Water transport is used to transport people, as well as cargo that does not spoil quickly. Despite the relatively high historical importance of maritime transport, it has long since lost its weight due to the increase in the volume of transport by commercial aviation, although water transport is still used for transportation and cruise trips. Modern water transport, of course, is much slower than air transport, but it is much more efficient if a large amount of cargo is to be transported. The weight of cargo transported by sea in 2010 is about six billion tons. There are races across the sea water transport absolutely any type, as well as scientific travel. In addition, the cost of traveling by water is much cheaper compared to traveling by air.- barges are flat ships that are designed to transport large and heavy loads mainly along canals and rivers. For the most part, a barge cannot move independently, and therefore it needs a tug. Even at the beginning of the industrial revolution, barges were transported with the help of people or special animals used on a par with railway transport. After some time, the barges left the race due to the labor intensity, as well as the high cost of transportation.
The infrastructure serving water transport includes docks, ports, shipyards and piers. In ports, cargo is loaded and unloaded onto ships, technical inspection of water transport is carried out at the dock, and repairs to watercraft also take place there.
Water transport is a type of transport that is used for freight and passenger transportation across waterways messages. These can be either natural (rivers, lakes, seas and oceans) or artificial (canals, reservoirs) waterways. The main transport is the ship.
The history of water transport begins with Ancient Egypt. Until the second half of the 19th century, when transcontinental railways, the most important mode of transport was water (both river and sea). And today this type of transport plays an important role: from 60 to 67% of global cargo turnover is accounted for by river and sea vessels.
Seaworthy vessel of the ancient world.
Vessel structure
In the classical concept, water transport is a ship, boat, yacht. But the category of vessels also includes kayaks, inflatable boats, barges, catamarans, hovercraft, as well as drilling rigs, ekranoplanes, ekranoplanes, seaplanes.
For most sea and river vessels there are a number of common design elements:
- Frame
- Superstructures, deckhouses
- Vessel power plants
- Ship devices
- Vessel systems and piping
- Equipment and electrical equipment of premises
Part of the cargo ship's hull
But there are also distinctive features for some categories of vessels, such as ekranoplan and seaplane. For the most part, the designs are airplanes, only their hull is designed like a boat.
A ship's hull is the waterproof shell that allows a ship to float on water. The end of the body is equipped with beams, which are called stems. The stem is a beam that is installed in the bow of the ship's hull. Also, not stems, but vertical end walls can be installed at the ends - towing or pushing vessels are equipped with them. The hull of a ship is usually made of steel.
Passenger ships have decks, river and mixed navigation, have one deck - the main one. Marine passenger ships are distinguished by the presence of several decks - upper (main), middle, lower. Large passenger ships sailing on lakes have two decks.
To make the ship unsinkable, its hull is divided by internal watertight transverse bulkheads. This creates several rooms - compartments.
Use of watercraft
River transport
Depending on the water area in which this type of transport is used, river and sea transport are distinguished.
The first type of water transport is also called IWT (inland water transport). These are vessels that carry out cargo and passenger transportation along inland waterways - rivers, canals, reservoirs, lakes.
By river transport ancient history. Also in Ancient Egypt built river ships, rowing or sailing type. Later they used the traction of horses or people (barge haulers) who walked along the shore. The first river steamboats appeared in the 19th century. And in 1903, the history of the ship begins - this ship was built in Russia and became part of the river fleet.
River vessels play an important role in cargo transportation. Despite such disadvantages as seasonal operation and low speed (from 10 to 20 kilometers per hour), water freight transport is profitable due to the fact that the cost of transportation is quite low. There are self-propelled vessels and barges - the second type of river vessels is not self-propelled; a tugboat is used for pushing. Self-propelled river transport transports either trucks with one or another cargo or containers - such vessels are called river container ships. Barges transport either liquid cargo (for example, petroleum products or crude oil) or bulk cargo (for example, grain, coal, sand).
River vessels occupy a relatively small share of passenger transportation. This is due to the fact that normal speed Such transport reaches 20 - 30 kilometers per hour, which is why a river boat cannot compete with faster buses and trains. With the help of so-called hydrofoils and air cushions, the speed of ships can be increased to 80 kilometers per hour. However, in this case, the cost of transportation increases significantly due to high fuel consumption. But in Lately hovercraft (hovercraft) began to appear more and more on rivers to transport people. The hovercraft has amphibious properties, so the vessel does not require specially equipped berths. During the spring thaw, this is the only transport capable of transporting people and cargo from one bank to the other.
Hovercraft SVP-50
River passenger ships are used for tourist cruises or for transporting passengers to places that are not connected by land transport.
Sea transport
Maritime transport is vessels moving across the seas, oceans and adjacent water areas, capable of maintaining buoyancy, as well as serving passengers and participating in various cargo operations.
The largest share of global freight traffic is accounted for by sea transport. In terms of transportation volume, the first place is occupied by a variety of liquid cargo: vegetable oil, liquid products of the chemical industry, crude oil and its refined products.
The second place in terms of cargo transportation volume is occupied by container transportation. Specialized ships called container ships have become an alternative to their predecessors, the general purpose ships. This is due to the fact that in a regular container (20-foot or 40-foot) you can transport various cargoes - both small and quite large, such as cars.
Bulk carrier
There are other types of sea transport:
- Lighter carriers
- Livestock transport vessels
- Heavy vessels
- Towing vessels
- Refrigerators
- Bulk carriers for transporting bulk cargo - such as coal, grain, sand
Some ships move on schedule between several seaports, adhering to a certain route. These are liner ships - passenger, cargo, and ferries.
Other vessels are not tied to specific geographical points and transport incidental and incidental cargo; this type of sea transport is called tramp. When carrying out tramp cargo transportation, a so-called charter agreement is carried out, in which both the carrier (charterer) and the sender of the cargo participate. Trump shipping is carried out in cases where it is necessary to transport piece goods of low value.
A mixed type of water transport, in relation to waterways, is also known. Such vessels can navigate both rivers and lakes, and seas and oceans.
River transport, as well as ships plying along the Northern Sea Route, is characterized by seasonality. Freight transportation by water transport is the cheapest, but is tied to geographical areas. When carrying out intercontinental cargo transportation, water transport is used, because delivering goods by air is too expensive, and the carrying capacity of aircraft is significantly lower than that of a sea vessel.
Examples of VT and brief description
Modern water transport can be divided into sports ships, cargo and passenger ships. In sports vessels, traditions that came from antiquity have been preserved, for example, kayaks, canoes, sailboats, rowing boats. Often, the production of such water products is a real art; as a result of the work of masters, unique works are created. But from the beginning of the 20th century, motorized vehicles became a widespread type of water transport - steam engines were replaced by gasoline engines (in motor boats) and diesel engines.
Features of VT, main differences from other types of vehicles.
Water transport has many varieties. There are small vessels (most often personal), medium and large vessels. First of all, it is worth noting personal vessels - boats, motor boats, yachts.
Blohm & Voss GOLDEN ODYSSEY II
Personal water transport is used for various purposes: fishing, tourism, recreation, various events. For recreation and tourism, vessels such as motor boats and speedboats are used. Fishing enthusiasts use inflatable motor boats. Yachts are used for events.
Unlike boats, whose engines are stationary, motor boats are equipped with easily removable outboard gasoline engines. Also, motor boats usually have rowlocks for oars, which can be useful if for some reason the boat’s engine fails, or it is necessary to make silent (or slow) movements.
For long-distance tourist trips along rivers, transport and tourist motor boats are used. These ships carry both passengers and their luggage. The hulls of such motor boats are made of light metal material - aluminum or its alloy with magnesium.
It is interesting to note that many types of motor boats are planing type water transport - such vessels can glide along the surface of the water and in this way safely navigate shallow water areas. In order for the engine power to be sufficient to switch to planing, the motorboat must be moderately loaded.
Motor boats are used for hunting, fishing, tourism and recreation, as well as search and rescue operations. Depending on the scope of application, the dimensions of such a vessel, as well as its contour, vary. For example, sports motor boats are small in size and weight and have a hull contour that allows them to move at high speeds.
Boats were originally called light vessels with one mast. Today this is the name given to small vessels equipped with a stationary engine. In the Soviet Union, a boat of the Amur type was produced for retail sale to a wide range of buyers. Nowadays, Tom LLC produces boats. This shipbuilding enterprise produces both the boats themselves with a lightweight aluminum hull and trailers for transporting these vessels.
Boats are used for boating and recreation, water tourism, fishing, hunting, and sporting events. In addition to a stationary motor, boats are usually equipped with water jet propulsors. It is the jet propulsion that allows the boat to enter planing mode and easily overcome shallow sections of the river.
Advantages and disadvantages of water transport
Freight transportation by water transport has a number of significant advantages:
- The capacity of sea trade routes is practically unlimited
- The presence of a unified legal framework with a 400-year history
- The cost of such transportation is quite low
- High carrying capacity, thanks to which a large amount of cargo can be transported on the vessel
These advantages, especially the last one, are especially important for intercontinental transportation of large quantities of cargo (for example, oil or petroleum products). At the same time, water transport has a number of serious disadvantages:
- The ship moves at a relatively low speed
- It is necessary to have specially equipped port facilities
- The construction of ships and ports requires serious financial expenditures
Motor boats are a very popular type of small water transport due to a number of advantages:
- Such small vessels are cheaper than yachts and boats
- Simple design
- Operation is simple, thanks to which the motor boat can be operated by persons without special education
- The service life is long, which is due to the possibility of storing the vessel on shore
- Speed
- It is possible to ensure safe anchorage of the vessel near an unprepared shore
- A motor boat can be transported by a passenger car by placing it on a special trailer.
- Due to the fact that the engine is outboard, it is easy to remove and replace; also, if necessary, the motor can be removed and stored safely
Motor boats also have disadvantages:
- Low load capacity
- Small volume of cabins (livable space)
- The outboard engines of these vessels are uneconomical compared to stationary boat engines.
Paths of VT evolution
The first large ships were built in Ancient Egypt, using wood as a structural material. The ships were equipped with a simple sail that caught the tailwind. If there was no favorable wind, the strength of the rowers was used.
In the 15th century, large seagoing vessels with several sails appeared. At the beginning of the 19th century, the first steamship was built and used as a river vessel. Metal - iron - began to be used as a material for the hull of such a ship. And the driving energy is steam. The next stage in the development of water technology was the discovery, made in 1876 by Nicholas Otto, of an internal combustion engine running on gasoline. It was internal combustion engines that began to appear more and more en masse on boats, yachts, ferries, and ships. At the moment, this is the main engine, but not the only one installed on the VT. Another stage in the development of technology was the rapid development of the petrochemical industry. On this moment Many watercraft are made from plastic polymer materials. Firstly, plastics and polymers are lighter than metal, secondly, their strength is either close to, the same or stronger than metal alloys, and thirdly, they are corrosion-resistant.
At the moment, the greatest interest in water technology is generated by the ekranoplan, hovercraft and planing boats, because... they develop the highest speeds. The fastest is the ekranoplan; on it you can reach ground speed of up to 700 km/h. It is also characterized by an absolutely smooth ride and allows you to overcome small obstacles (isthmus, shoal). The only drawback is its high power supply to transfer the vehicle and maintain it in ground-flight mode, which leads to high fuel consumption. A hovercraft and a boat have a lower speed, about up to 150 km/h, the smoothness of the VSP is also at the level of an ekranoplan, but the smoothness of a boat suffers, but the hovercraft and the boat consume much less fuel compared to an ekranoplan.
At the moment, the crown of technical thought is the ekranoplan. With the development of new materials and increased efficiency of power units, ekranoplanes may well replace private passenger air travel. And in the future, they will become private vehicles for long-distance transportation and world travel, displacing yachts and cars.
Despite the widespread development and spread of road, rail and air traffic water transport still remains one of the popular ways to move people and goods. What are the reasons for popularity water transport and what is its advantage over its faster counterparts?
Distribution and reasons for the popularity of water transport
If we are talking about the transportation of goods, then the very low cost of transportation by this type of transport and its ability to transport cargo of any size are important, which is not possible for any of the other three competitors. At the same time, if employees are properly trained in logistics, the processes of unloading and unloading ships in ports can be made quite fast and efficient, further reducing the cost of transportation. Besides, water transport indispensable where land transportation is impossible - between continents and islands.
The low speed of water transport has virtually eliminated business passenger transport, but the centuries-old romance of sea travel has contributed to the development of a separate branch of water transport, such as travel on cruise ships. And small water transport, yachts, boats and boats are deservedly popular among lovers of active recreation.
Types of water transport
All water transport is divided into two large groups according to the water areas used - river and sea. In turn, within each of these groups, all ships according to the type of cargo transported are divided into cargo and passenger.
Sea transport
This group includes all vessels capable of moving on the surface of the seas and oceans and performing the functions of transporting goods or passengers. Maritime transport accounts for the lion's share of cargo transportation in the world, especially large and liquid cargo, such as oil, petroleum products, liquefied gas and chemical products. The main two groups of cargo sea vessels are tankers for transporting liquid cargo and container ships, which transport all other cargo in universal 20- or 40-foot containers. Less common are more highly specialized sea vessels, adapted for transportation, for example. automobiles, cattle or frozen foods. The difficulties encountered in the operation of this type of water transport lie in the need to build large ports equipped with a large number of loading and unloading systems. But with a proper and modern approach to logistics, all these problems can be easily solved, making maritime transport in capable hands one of the most profitable enterprises in the world.
Passenger sea transport is divided into liner ships that carry passengers along strictly defined routes; this group includes ferries that run between various ports of one of the continents and transoceanic ones, and the cruise fleet, each of the ships of which is a city in miniature. Cruise ships are capable of carrying several thousand passengers, providing them with the most high level comfort and safety. A cruise on such a ship leaves an unforgettable impression!
And of course, we should not forget about the huge army of private yacht owners, from miniature boats that can barely accommodate two or three people, to giant yachts of billionaires, in terms of amenities, not inferior to cruise ships. The centuries-old romance of sea travel, glorified in novels about great captains and brave pirates, draws hundreds and thousands of modern amateur sailors to the sea! All these ships and small boats also belong to sea water transport.
River water transport
This group of water transport includes all vessels transporting passengers or goods along inland waterways - rivers, lakes or canals. True, there is one interesting exception - although the Caspian Sea is a lake, due to its size, ships plying from its shores are classified as maritime transport.
The main advantage of river transport is its low cost, so it is widely used, especially in Western Europe, where France, Belgium and Holland are connected by a wide and extensive network of canals along which hundreds of special small cargo ships - peniches - ply. But due to the low speed of transportation, river transport is used to transport goods that do not require urgent delivery.
And if in ancient times and in the Middle Ages river boats were very popular among passengers, even among high-ranking ones, such as egyptian pharaohs and the ancient Slavic princes, who even went on their last journey on special ones, in our time, alas, this type of transport is not at all popular among passengers. The reason is the low speed. If you use ships that can compete in speed with railway or by car, for example, on an air cushion, then fuel consumption increases many times and makes the use of these ships unprofitable.
But there is another area in which river boats have found their recognition these days - these are excursion boats plying the rivers and canals of European capitals and many beautiful medieval cities. It is impossible to imagine Prague, Venice, Paris or Amsterdam without these, so beloved by tourists and very comfortable river boats. A walk on such a boat, accompanied by an interesting story from the guide and an exquisite buffet, leaves an unforgettable impression!
One of the convenient types of transportation from one side to another is water transport. And many began to forget about him, and young people don’t even know how to distinguish sea transport from river transport and what is its purpose in general.
In fact, this type of movement of goods and people has a great advantage over trains or planes. For example, by water transport you can transport quite heavy cargo that an airplane cannot carry. Moreover, if everything is organized correctly, then unloading cargo will also be much faster than unloading from a train. Another advantage of such transport is that in places where there are continents or transportation between islands, land transport will not work, and water transport will easily deliver cargo or passengers, but the disadvantage of such water transport is its speed, so now few people agree to passenger transportation, but still there are those who do not forget about this romance and go on cruises on liners.
A cruise ship
All this transport is divided into two categories - sea and river, and within these categories, vessels are divided into passenger water transport and cargo.
Water sea transport
This category includes ships that easily move across oceans and seas (cargo and passenger). Such vessels transport oil and its products or compressed gas, etc. Such transport includes tankers and container ships that are capable of transporting quite heavy cargo.
And passenger transport moves along a certain path and carries passengers. Also included in the category of passenger water transport are ferries, yachts and cruise ships.
Water river transport
To category river water transport You can include those ships that transport people and cargo along canals, lakes or rivers. The big advantage of such transport is its low price, which is why it is very widely used. But river transport also has a minus, and it is identical to sea transport - it is low speed.
River transport Of course, there are ships that are not inferior to land or air transport, but this will cost twice as much money, so they are considered unprofitable and are not released into the sea. Such expensive transport can be used by people who do not have financial problems, so it is not suitable for regular passenger transportation.
In the Middle Ages, such ships were popular even among people of high rank; pharaohs or princes could be transported on them to get to another state, but now people have begun to forget about the romance that is at sea, the sunsets that go beyond the horizon, plunging into the depths of the sea.
The most common water transport at this time is excursion ships that ply along canals or rivers. So if you happen to be visiting Venice, Paris or Prague, take the time to board one of these ships. You won't regret it because boat trip will be accompanied by stories from the guide, and will leave a lot of positive emotions and memories in your heart.
