Northwest Basin River Ports

the chief inland water transportation centers in the northwestern part of the European USSR. The Northwest Basin river ports handle cargo and passenger traffic moving along the following water routes: the V. I. Lenin Volga-Baltic Waterway; Lakes Ladoga, Onega, and Il’men’ and their tributaries; the Svir’, Neva, Volkhov, Neman (Nemunas), and Pregolia rivers; and the Baltic-White Sea Canal. The water network links the industrial regions of Vologda, Leningrad, Novgorod, and Kaliningrad oblasts and the Karelian ASSR. The average length of the shipping season is 229 days on the Neva and Svir’ rivers and Lake Ladoga, 183 days on Lake Onega, and 225 days on the Neman and Pregolia rivers.

The Northwest Basin has 257 ports, landings, and stopping points belonging to the Ministry of the River Fleet of the RSFSR and 164 berths belonging to industrial enterprises (1974). In 1973 the basin’s ports and landings accounted for approximately 85 percent of the total volume of loading and unloading done in the Ministry of the River Fleet system; 97.5 percent of the work was mechanized, employing 9.5 percent of the ministry’s total stock of loading machinery.

The principal ports on the Volga-Baltic Waterway are Leningrad and Cherepovets. In the southwestern part of the basin the principal ports are Kaliningrad and Sovetsk, and on Lake Onega, Medvezh’egorsk and Petrozavodsk.

The Leningrad river port, established in 1933, is located within the city limits. It has three cargo areas: the area at the mouth of the Malaia Neva on Vasil’evskii Island (established in 1965), which mainly handles mineral construction materials, such as sand, gravel, and stone, shipped in from the Gulf of Finland; the Neva area (established in 1969) on the right bank of the Neva, which handles mineral construction materials and ships out containers and individually packaged freight; and the Ivanovskii area (established in 1946), which is based at a wharf on the left bank of the Neva and handles various types of cargo. Coal, timber, grain, and petroleum products shipped into Leningrad are unloaded at berths belonging to industrial enterprises.

The Kaliningrad river port, established in 1946, is located within the city limits on the right bank of the Pregolia River, 6 km from the mouth. It ships out mineral construction materials and receives timber (on ships) and coal.

The Sovetsk river landing, established in 1948, is located in Kaliningrad Oblast on the left bank of the Neman River, at the river’s junction with a railroad line. It handles local cargo, transferring it from water to rail transport and vice versa.

The Lithuanian SSR has the most highly developed water transport in the Baltic region of the USSR. The Kaunas river landing, established in 1946, is situated on the right bank of the Nemunas River, at the river’s junction with a railroad line. It handles primarily local cargo, transferring it from water to rail transport and vice versa.

The Medvezh’egorsk river port, established in 1933, is situated on the northern shore of Povenets Bay in Lake Onega. The specialized Perguba cargo area was built in 1973. The port is linked with a railroad, which brings in apatite concentrates, iron-ore concentrates, construction materials, and industrial raw materials for transfer to water transport; the port also transfers coal from water to rail transport.

The Petrozavodsk river port, established in 1961, is located within the city limits, on the western shore of Lake Onega. It is connected to a railroad line, from which it receives industrial raw materials. The port ships out timber, lumber for export, industrial and food products, building materials, and machinery.