The Minister of Transport proposed to increase fees from truckers for the development of river transport

The Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov at a meeting of the State Council on August 15 proposed raising fares for the passage of heavy vehicles on federal highways during the period of river navigation, that is, from April to November.

In his opinion, this measure will contribute to the reorientation of cargo transportation from road transport to river transport. “It is also possible to do this on highways, the directions of which coincide with the directions of waterways, by defining such a list,” Sokolov said.

The Minister explained that the peak load on roads falls on the summer months, and road congestion is constantly growing. “One river train with a carrying capacity of 8,000 tons is capable of replacing 400 20-ton trucks,” TASS quoted him as saying.

Sokolov also proposed introducing an additional excise tax on diesel fuel, which, he said, is used mainly by heavy trucks. This, according to the minister's intention, will serve as "an incentive for the reorientation of bulk and heavy cargo", and will increase funding for the repair and maintenance of hydroelectric facilities. As another source of money for the maintenance of waterways, he proposed introducing a payment on electricity generated by hydroelectric power plants, since hydroelectric power plants interfere with navigation.

In total, according to Sokolov, 21 billion rubles are required annually for “regulatory funding for the maintenance of inland waterways”, of which about eight are missing. After the start of full-fledged financing of water transport and the creation of new infrastructure, the authorities will be able to charge shipping companies for its use, he said .

Currently, the share of cargo turnover by water transport is no more than 3 percent of the total cargo turnover of Russia, and the loss of carrying capacity due to "infrastructural restrictions" is about 46 tons per year, Sokolov said.

• Since November 2015, heavy vehicles in the Russian Federation must pay for travel on federal highways. The tariff is 1.53 rubles per kilometer. The collection is carried out using the Platon system, for the maintenance of which the state must pay 10.6 billion rubles annually to the operator, the RT-Invest company (its co-owner is Igor Rotenberg, son of businessman Arkady Rotenberg).
• The launch of the system provoked massive protests by truck drivers. As a result, the government repeatedly reduced the fines for non-payment of travel and refused to increase the fare planned for March to 3.06 rubles per kilometer.
• According to RBC, Maxim Sokolov spoke about the need to increase the tariff of the Platon system in June 2016 at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. “Any test period must end sometime, so we must come to the paradigm of those decisions that were planned when this system was launched,” the minister said.