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Abstract
The relevance of the study stems from significant changes in traditional trade routes at present, which are associated with both global warming and significant transformations in the global economy. In this regard, the increasing importance of the Volga-Caspian transport corridor, not only as a regional but also as an internationally significant trade route connecting the countries of South Asia with Europe by the shortest route, seems to be likely to become a major feature of global logistics in the medium term. The transformation of this historically established trade route into a sustainable transport corridor, which became a significant factor in Russia’s industrialization, began in the mid-19th century with the formation of a large shipping company in the form of the joint-stock company “Caucasus and Mercury”, which combined in its activities the busy Volga route with the Caspian Sea. The reason for the success of this large-scale project lay in its complex structure as a public-private partnership, combining entrepreneurial initiative with the organizational and economic capabilities of the state. In addition to the logistical component of the Volga-Caspian transport corridor, these joint-stock companies appear to be an essential element of the economic mechanism for the development of vast outlying territories in the south of the Russian Empire, which made it possible to include the natural resources of these regions, in particular oil and oil products from Baku and the Ural-Emba fields, etc., in the single economic space of the country.
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