Russia lacked the budgetary funds to replace its aging civilian fleet
The Russian government failed to allocate funds in the state budget for the modernization of its aging civilian shipping fleet. Previously, the plan was to gradually phase out all river-sea vessels over 40 years old by 2030 and replace them with new ones—approximately 500 dry cargo ships, container ships, and tankers—over the next decade.
This is reported by Russian media.
About 290 billion rubles from the federal budget were planned to be allocated for the implementation of this program in 2026–2030. These funds were to be used, in particular, for preferential ship leasing mechanisms, with the vessels to be built by the United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK).
However, according to sources, the Russian government is now proposing an alternative financing scheme—by raising fees for technical inspections of ships 30 years old and older, as well as through additional charges on port fees for each ton of cargo transported.
It is estimated that this plan is expected to generate approximately 210 billion rubles: about one-third from increased fees for ship inspections, and two-thirds from increased port charges. In particular, the surcharge on port fees alone, given the current cargo turnover volumes at Russian ports, could generate about 42 billion rubles annually.
At the same time, the idea of using port fees as an investment tool is already sparking competition among various government programs. Earlier, it was proposed to raise these fees to finance the construction of Rosatom’s icebreakers, which could also generate about 10 billion rubles a year.
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