The paper analyses the project “Russian Society of Shipping in the East” proposed in 1885 by naval officer A.K. Sidensner in order to develop trade and economic relations of Russia with China, Korea and Japan. The emergence of this project was predetermined by the extremely slow development of merchant shipping of the Russian Empire on the Far Eastern borders. In this situation, the trade passages between Russian and East Asian ports were almost monopolized by foreign shipping companies. The project “Russian Society of Shipping in the East” offered a solution to this problem by creating a domestic shipping company in the Far East. This enterprise had to stimulate international trade, to develop passenger traffic and to strengthen Russia's military and strategic positions in the Pacific Ocean. The paper analyses the development of merchant shipping in the Russian Far East in the 1870s and 1880s. The project of 1885 and its following discussion at the government level was examined. The paper examines the main reasons for the refusal in granting a subsidy for the establishment of the project “Russian Society of Shipping in the East”. It is concluded that the refusal of large financial investments by the government consolidated the backwardness of Russian positions in the Pacific until the beginning of the 20th century.