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Vitaly V. Klyuev - Candidate of Law, Professor of the Department of Maritime Law and International Law, Russian University of Transport (MIIT), Moscow, Russia; vitaly140962@gmail.com

Abstract. The economy of the Russian Federation depends significantly on maritime transport, which carries about 60% of all foreign trade cargo. Maritime transport also ensures the vitality of individual regions of the country, often being the only alternative for cargo delivery. The efficiency of maritime management in terms of merchant shipping is thus a crucial factor in ensuring the country’s economy. Maritime transport is international, operating in the world ocean with various legal regimes of maritime spaces, which imposes certain international obligations on it and on the country. In Russia, there is no clearly defined maritime administration, as provided for by the instruments of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The functions of the maritime administration are distributed among several federal departments. At the same time, there is no coordinating body between the departments associated with the implementation of the functions of the maritime administration. International practice in the field of the establishment and activities of maritime administrations varies significantly. One of the most popular and reliable forms of maritime administration in the world is the establishment of relevant specialized national agencies (institutions, organizations) in various organizational and legal forms. In Russia there is an objective necessity to reorganize the public (state) management of maritime activities in terms of merchant shipping in order to optimize the order and procedures for state registration of maritime vessels, rights to them and transactions with them, certification of seafarers, implementation of state port control of Russian and foreign vessels, as well as to ensure the implementation of the functions of the country’s maritime administration that are currently not performed, namely, monitoring the location and movement of Russian vessels in the world ocean and in foreign jurisdictions, implementation of interaction between the state and shipowners of Russian vessels in the issues of national jurisdiction, including measures to ensure the safety of navigation and inspection of vessels. There have been considered four possible strategies for reorganizing state management of maritime activities in relation to merchant shipping. The most effective strategy turned to be the establishment of a public-law company “Maritime Administration of the Russian Federation”. The establishment of such a company will require the adoption of a federal law, as well as amendments to individual legislative acts of the Russian Federation in order to bring the functions of the maritime administration into line with the powers of the public-law company being set up.