Currently, the Sura River has lost its significance as a shipping artery, and steamers like "Lermontov" and "Chayka" no longer operate. However, before the revolution, dozens of various vessels sailed on the Sura.

Passenger transportation was then carried out by four private companies. Since 1875, a shipping agency run by merchant Popov operated in Penza, followed by the bureaus of Kozhemyakin, Bulichev, and the firm "Brothers Talantsevy," which operated until the October Revolution. Their fleets included a variety of vessels. For example, Talantsev had the steamers "Perekat" and the two-decked "Chayka" sailing on the Sura. On average, they transported up to 13,000 people a year, which accounted for 10% of Penza's population at that time. Other entrepreneurs purchased vessels in France. Among the cargo-passenger steamers were "Oshibka" with a carrying capacity of up to 8 tons and "Neozhidannyy," capable of carrying up to 29 tons.

Newspapers of that time featured notes about the navigation of 1910, when steamers, including the new two-decked steamer "Chayka," launched in 1908, arrived in the village of Promzino. This steamer impressed with the finishing of first and second-class cabins. Its dimensions were: length 39.37 meters, width 5.8 meters. The draft with load was 0.84 meters, without load, 0.44 meters. Passenger capacity: first class, 16 people, second class, 14 people, third class, 182 people. The crew of the steamer numbered 22 people.

The cargo turnover at the docks on the Sura significantly exceeded the figures of Simbirsk on the Volga. In the upper reaches of the Sura, in Penza, where the river is no longer so large, 1580 people worked at the cargo dock and shipyard.

Penza province also had its own shipyards, and Penza was one of the centers of shipbuilding. Although only wooden vessels were built here, the province produced up to 16 vessels of the "Suryak" and "Mokshanka" types annually. The length of the "suryaks" reached almost 130 meters, and their carrying capacity was 100 thousand tons. They typically transported industrial goods, bread, alcohol, and grain.