Chinese Eastern Railway Liaodong from China in 1898. Officially, traffic on the line started in November 1901, but regular passenger traffic from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok across the Trans-Siberian railway did not commence until July 1903. In 1898, construction of a 550-mile (880 km) spur line, most of which later formed the South Manchuria Railway, began at Harbin, leading southwards through Eastern Manchuria, along the Liaodong Peninsula, to the ice-free deep-water port at Lüshun, which Russia was fortifying and developing into a first-class strategic naval base and marine coaling station for its Far East Fleet and Merchant Marine. This town was known in
The Eastern-Siberian Inland Navigation Company the line. The Eastern-Siberian Inland Navigation Company was always the leader in cargo delivery to the North. In a short time six motor ships, 15 barges with carrying capacity of 1300 tons were built. The company's vessels had transported 840000 tons of cargo for the Baikal-Amur Mainline building. The 1960—70s were a very important stage in the technique and fleet reequipment. The stream vessels were replaced by motor ships. The Eastern-Siberian Inland Navigation Company belongs to group of companies "Eastland" since 2001. It was a new stage in company's development. Holding company Eastland was founded more than 15 years ago.