Russia’s largest river carrier in eastern Siberia cancels routes amid fuel crisis

The Eastern-Siberian Inland Navigation Company, the largest carrier in Russia’s Irkutsk region, is cutting scheduled and excursion routes and raising ticket prices in response to the fuel crisis.

In a statement, the company said available fuel supplies are being directed toward fulfilling “socially important transportation obligations,” with subsidized passenger services and ferry crossings taking priority.

The Eastern-Siberian Inland Navigation Company carries about 600,000 passengers and roughly two million tons of cargo a year across Irkutsk region and Buryatia. It operates 17 scheduled routes and four ferry crossings: Sakhyurta to Olkhon Island, Listvyanka to Port Baikal, Balagansk to Igzhey, and Svirsk to Kamenka.

The company’s summer schedule lists seven excursion routes and four scheduled services — three departing from Irkutsk and one from Balagansk.

A state of high alert has been in effect in Russia’s Irkutsk Oblast since June 28. As Governor Igor Kobzev explained, the measure was introduced “to prevent an emergency situation related to the fuel crisis.” Rosneft gas stations have also limited fuel sales to 50 liters per vehicle per day.

Kobzev also said authorities needed to crack down on attempts to resell fuel “in violation of the law.” Soon afterward, Russia’s Interior Ministry reported that police had issued four administrative citations to local residents accused of reselling gasoline at inflated prices.