Difficulties and Contradictions in Organizing the Transit Section of the Vladivostok Commercial Port in the 1920s

Based on archival documents introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time, this article reveals the complex process of establishing and operating the Transit Section of the Vladivostok Commercial Port, which aimed to enhance the port’s attractiveness in Pacific international trade. The primary focus is on the acute struggle and interdepartmental friction between the Ussuri Railway, the Management of the Vladivostok Commercial Port, and foreign trade organizations for control over the management and operation of the Transit Section. It demonstrates how these internal contradictions, alongside external competition with the port of Dairen, influenced the launch timeline, managerial structure, and initial effectiveness of this project, which was key to returning Northern Manchurian transit traffic to Vladivostok. The prerequisites for the opening of the Transit Section and the economic results of its activities are presented. The article shows how, despite internal conflicts, Vladivostok managed to regain a significant share of transit cargo, before the political events of the early 1930s led to the curtailment of this activity.