Novorossiysk is connected by rail, at the west end of the Caucasus, with the Rostov-Vladikavkaz line, and a mountain road leads from Velyaminovsk (or Tuapse) to Maikop in the province of Kuban.
The lighter oil is conveyed to Batum on the Black Sea in pipes, and is there shipped for export; the heavier oils reach the same port and the ports of Novorossiysk and Poti, also on the Black Sea, in tank railway-cars.
Novorossiysk is connected by a branch railway to Tikhoryetskaya (169 m.) with the main Caucasian line, which crosses the Volga near Tsaritsyn, and has become an important centre for the export of corn, and since the petroleum wells of Groznyi in northern Caucasia were tapped it has become an entrepot for the export of petroleum.
Novorossiysk has belonged to Russia since 1829.