Makhachkala port

The construction of the Caspian Flotilla base in the Dry-cargo harbor of Makhachkala port will be completed this year. This was announced on 12 April 2019 by Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov on the single day of acceptance of military products. The decision of the head of the Russian Ministry of Defense Sergei Shoigu to transfer the Caspian flotilla from Astrakhan to Dagestan became known in early April 2018. The ships will be based in Makhachkala and Kaspiysk.

"The construction of the Caspian flotilla facilities continues to increase, which will ensure completion of work on upgrading the shipboard base in the Makhachkala Sea Harbor dry cargo port and on construction of the berthing front and protective hydraulic structures of the main base station this year," said Ivanov. He stressed that the work is carried out by decision of the Supreme Commander, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

The authorities of Dagestan are interested in the speedy completion of the construction and redeployment of the Caspian flotilla to the republic. TASS was informed on 12 April 2019 by the Deputy Prime Minister of the region, Ramazan Jafarov. "The Republic of [Dagestan] is interested in the speedy completion of the construction and redeployment of the Caspian flotilla, the creation of appropriate infrastructure here, including the living conditions of military personnel," said Jafarov. He added that "issues related to the development of relevant infrastructure, the creation of additional jobs and, in general, the strengthening of the country's defense capability are also connected with the relocation of the flotilla." According to Jafarov, the basing of the flotilla in Dagestan "will also have a positive effect on the socio-political and socio-economic situation in the region."

Makhachkala Sea Commercial Pore is the only non-freezing and deep-water port of Russia in the Caspian Sea. The port is an important strategic link of the transport system of the South of Russia with the states of Central Asia, Iran, Transcaucasia and other countries of the region. The company's team is engaged in transportation and processing of general, mineral construction and bulk cargoes, as well as ferry and container shipments.

Navigation in the port of Makhachkala is carried out year-round, the seaport has a cargo permanent multilateral checkpoint at the State Border of the Russian Federation. The port accepts vessels up to 150 meters in length and with precipitation of up to 4.5 meters. The rules for ships to enter the port and for the ships to leave the port, for clearance and entry and exit are defined by the General Rules for the Navigation and Parking of Ships in the seaports of the Russian Federation and on the approaches to them.

The port's oil and gas industry is a modern complex for the processing of petroleum products, equipped with high-performance means of processing tankers with a carrying capacity of 13 thousand tons and draft up to 6.5 meters. To allow entry into the Oil Harbor of ships with dimensions exceeding the established ones, the captain of the seaport shall be presented with a list of measures for safe ship entry approved by the ship classification authorities. In the port of Makhachkala there is a railway crossing - the only Russian crossing on the Caspian Sea, designed for ferries of the type “Makhachkala-1”, “Petrovsk” and “Soviet Dagestan”. Its productivity is more than 20 thousand cars per year.

The Makhachkala Sea Trade Port, dates back to 1870, when the new port officially opened in Port Petrovsk (now Makhachkala). According to historians, in November 1870, the whole world was alerted by an artillery shot from a fortress on Anji-Ark that Russia had become one more seaport - it was the newly born port on the Caspian Sea - “Port Petrovsk”.

Very soon, the port became the center of the city’s economy, allowed the creation of a large number of jobs, promoted the influx of immigrants from the internal provinces of Russia and the Transcaucasus, and as a result, the growth of the urban population.

The appearance on the Caspian coast of the new port was largely due to the crushing defeat of the Russian Empire in the Crimean War (1853-1856). The humiliating conditions of the Paris Peace Treaty (March 18, 1856), in fact, exposed the south of the country and made Russia very vulnerable: it almost completely lost its fleet on the Black Sea, and the number of fortifications on the Crimean coast was also minimized.

And in such a tragic situation for the empire, Port-Petrovsk suddenly became an important strategic military point in the south of the country. Then they remembered about the port on the Caspian Sea, talks about the construction of which were conducted for a long time. The construction of the city of Petrovsk, present-day Makhachkala, dates back to 1844. Then on the Caspian coast was erected fortifications Petrovskoe. There was a Caucasian war and therefore, almost simultaneously with town planning, the question arose of constructing a small artificial harbor for ships with provisions for troops near it.

The new port city on the Caspian Sea with the end of the construction of the harbor became an important center of trade. Very soon, the port, which was originally built as the Russian naval base in the Caucasus, acquired mainly commercial and transit importance. The offices of the shipping companies have established a permanent water connection with Astrakhan and Baku. Not only military supplies were transported through the port to supply Russian troops, but also merchant goods for trade with overseas countries: oil products, cotton, wool, fruits, fish, bread, manufactory, iron, etc. And such purely civilian goods every year became more and more. If in 1870 the port's cargo turnover was about 10 thousand tons, then in five years it grew already 30 times - every year up to 300 thousand tons of various cargoes were reloaded in Port Petrovsk.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Port-Petrovsk almost completely lost its initial military-strategic importance. But the opening of the seaport in the city, which today is the southernmost port of Russia, as well as the construction of the Vladikavkaz-Petrovsk-Baku railway, made Port-Petrovsk a rapidly developing city. Due to the proximity of markets and raw materials markets, freight turnover grew even when navigation on the Volga was closed: cargo from Central Asia was sent to Russia mainly through Port-Petrovsk. Together with the trade and economic development of the city, the port also contributed to the influx of immigrants from the internal provinces of Russia and Transcaucasia to the south, and as a result - the growth of the urban population. Petrovsky port became the center of the economy of Dagestan and the southern sea gate of Russia.

In 1942, the port of Makhachkala turned out to be in the main strike of the German fascist troops in the Caucasus, it became the frontline. The port staff worked around the clock. He provided uninterrupted transportation of military goods, delivered military units and military equipment to the front, and raw materials and fuel for the defense industry. In addition to these important tasks, the port continued to carry out a large volume of other national economic shipments. The Red Army fighter met every departing dockman with a question: “What did you do today for the front?” to front-line heroes! ”In short breaks, the party organization held the battalions in the company's divisions, which ended with the call: We deliver for the front! ”

“Guards of the labor front! Forge the weapon of victory with Stakhanov’s labor! ”The republican newspaper calls. The pre-May socialist competition unfolded in the Caspian. The fleet transported 13,000 tons of agricultural machinery in February and March 1943. Many port staff have achieved good performance in this competition. “The team of comrade Mehdiyeva, at the unloading of the Yeni-El steamer, complied with the norm by 160 percent, and the brigade of comrade. Isaev during the processing of the ship "Vorovsky" completed the task by 203 percent. The first place in the competition is held by the Red Banner brigade of Comrade. Mozolevsky. She completed the March plan by 163 percent. For the first decade of April, it brought production to 200 percent per shift. This allowed the site in March and in the first ten days of April to process ahead of schedule almost all the vessels that arrived at the pier”, For success in the comprehensive socialist competition in the 2nd quarter of 1943, the People's Commissariat of the Navy awarded the port a major prize.