The modern Russian economy has a high level of monopolization due to significant share of state ownership. This problem gives rise to numerous disputes among modern economists and experts. So, monopolization of the Russian Empire’s economy is relevant now. Based on the analysis of archival documents stored in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI), the process of monopolization of cargo and passenger traffic in the Caspian Sea by such large companies as the Caucasus and Mercury and the Bureau of Persian Transport is considered; the influence of this process on the qualitative side of the development of the transport business of the mentioned carriers is shown. The article shows that at the end of the 19 century a fierce competition has developed between numerous transport companies in the Caspian Sea for the transportation of passengers and goods between Russian and Persian ports. This process was negatively assessed by the Russian government, which understood it as a factor holding back the intensification of trade between Russia and Iran. In this regard, it accepted with approval the process of creating a large monopoly - the "United Society for the Transportation and Insurance of Cargoes in Persia", which united a number of large shipping companies that were previously in a competitive struggle with each other. An analysis of the materials on the activities of the established monopoly showed that the government's actions led to the opposite effect: the elimination of competition between previously independent transport companies led to a decrease in the share of their cargo transported in the total volume of Russian-Iranian trade. At the same time, the monopoly demonstrated the absence of a desire not to increase the volume of supplies, but only to maintain the level of the achieved indicators.
