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Satellite image of Kerch Strait. Left side is Crimea (green dot represents Kerch). Right side is Taman Peninsula, Russia (red dot represents Chushka Spit.) |
The Kerch Strait ferry line (Russian: Керченская паромная переправа (also, переправа «Крым — Кавказ»), Ukrainian: Керченська поромна переправа) was a ferry connection across the Strait of Kerch that connected the Crimean Peninsula and Krasnodar Krai.
The ferry ran across the narrowest part of the strait (about 5 kilometres (3 mi)) between Port Krym (harbour Crimea) by the city of Kerch and Port Kavkaz (harbour Caucasus) on the Chushka Spit, on the site of the former Kerch railway bridge. It carried passengers, automotive and railroad transport. The ferry was on the European route E97 and connected its parts, А290 (formerly M25) and М-17 highways.
After the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, ferry traffic peaked, but as the Crimean Bridge across the strait opened in 2018–2020, it overtook the traffic flow from the ferry, rendering its usage for transportation financially unfeasible (there is no toll involved for the use of the bridge), and the ferry line stopped operations in late 2020.