The transfer of the Kerch crossing under the control of Aksenov does not guarantee a reduction in tariffs

Moscow - Simferopol, January 12 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – Effective January 15, the ferry operator's functions will be transferred from the federal Unified Transport Directorate (UTD) to the regional State Unitary Enterprise "Crimean Sea Ports." Crimean Governor Sergei Aksyonov has repeatedly criticized the UTD, accusing the organization of "artificial" queues and inflated fares, but now Crimean authorities are no longer guaranteeing lower prices for the ferry. According to Kommersant's sources , it is unclear how the UTD will be able to change the ferry's management, and its transfer to Crimea is more likely explained by the "personal ambitions" of the regional authorities.

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Now a one-way passenger ticket costs 162 rubles, transportation of a passenger car costs 1,2-2,3 thousand rubles, and a truck costs 2,8-14,7 thousand rubles. After criticism from Sergei Aksenov, the FAS department for Crimea and Sevastopol began checking tariffs at the crossing. Sources familiar with the situation say that “the transfer of operator functions to the Crimean State Unitary Enterprise was the end of the struggle of local authorities for control over the crossing.” “In essence, this is a strategically important asset for the region that generates a constant cash flow, and the federal authorities decided to give control over the crossing under guarantees of more efficient management and to avoid further conflicts,” says one of them.

But so far there are no promises of tariff reductions in Crimea. “We have not yet received documentation on the conditions under which the vessels operating there are chartered. But in the near future, an economic examination of tariffs will be carried out,” Transport Minister Anatoly Tsurkin explained to the publication.

Director of the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the Higher School of Economics, Mikhail Blinkin, cannot understand how the state unitary enterprise can radically improve logistics, and explains the transfer of control “rather to the personal ambitions of the regional authorities.”