The regional authorities initially intended to dismantle the operator since its services were no longer needed because vehicles can now access the peninsula via the Crimean bridge, whose road section was opened in May and has a daily capacity of up to 40,000 vehicles. That's according to Sputnik International.
"In the near future, the establishment of the joint shipping company will be completed. Now, on the instruction of the republic's head [Sergei Aksyonov], we are planning to transform Morskaya Direktsiya into such a company," Muradov said.
According to the deputy prime minister, the authorities will try to set up the company before the end of the year.
The establishment of a shipping company is envisaged by a memorandum on economic cooperation that Russia and Syria signed during the visit of a Crimean delegation to Damascus in October. Apart from the shipping company, the agreement provides for opening a trading house, organizing mutual deliveries of goods, and possibly operating direct flights between Syria and Crimea.
On Monday, Muradov said that the joint Crimea-Syria trading house, which will help the two countries in conducting their transactions, had already been established and was being registered as a resident of Crimea's free economic zone.
