Transport is one of the leading segments in the economic complex of the Sakhalin Region. The transport branch is comprised of all types of transport: sea, railway, motor, and air. The sea transport plays a leading role in the transport system of the Region. Nearly all the cargo arriving for Sakhalin, and the Kuril islands is delivered by cargo boats, or by ferries, in railway wagons, through a sea ferry passage at Vanino - Kholmsk. The Region has 11 seaports. There are eight sea trade ports located in Kholmsk, Korsakov, Alexandrovsk, Poronaisk, Uglegorsk, Shakhtyorsk, Boshnyakovo, and Krasnogorsk. There are two sea fish ports in Kholmsk, and Nevelsk, and one departmental seaport at Moskalvo, which belongs JSC  Posneft-Sakhalinmorneftegaz. The ports of Korsakov and Kholmsk are largest. The coal and timber shipments go through other ports. In 1999, the international ferry communication was opened between the ports of Korsakov and Wakkanai (Japan). The railway transportation realizes about 30% of all transportation volume inside Sakhalin. Sakhalin has railway lines stretching from Nogliki in the north, to Korsakov in the south. There is also a departmental narrow-gauge line at Nogliki _ Okha, extending 228 kms, belonging to JSC Rosneft-Sakhalinmorneftegaz. With the existence of a ferry serving Vanino- Kholmsk, Sakhalin has railway communication with a railway network of The Russian Federation. The main function of air transport is to provide for the air transportation of passengers over long distances, and to regions of difficult accessibility. In the internavigating period, the aircraft provides a unique, and sole means of communication from certain directions to the continent, and islands of the Region. The share of air transport in the shipment of goods from Sakhalin is minimal. Sakhalin is connected by regular flights to Moscow, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, and other cities of Russian Federation. The airport of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is of the greatest importance in air transportation. There are regularly scheduled international flights to Hakodate (Japan), Seoul, Pusan (Korea) and charter flights to cities of Niigata, Tokyo, Sapporo (Japan), Dalian, Kharbin, and Shanghai (China). The largest communication enterprises in the Sakhalin region are: JSC Sakhalinsvyaz, and the State institution Administration of the federal post communication of the Sakhalin Region. The telecommunications network of the Sakhalin Region consists of radial lines outgoing to 17 areas from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. In 1997, the first 120 high-speed satellite channels, in communication with Moscow, were put into operation. There are 240 digital channels of communication with Moscow, Novosibirsk, and Khabarovsk, and presently 600 more digital channels for intraband communication.