In March 2000, the Government of Kalmykia Air Defence, headed by President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov together with the Moscow based Marina Line launched the NOSTRAC transport corridor project linking Europe with the Middle East and Asia. It was reported that NOSTRAC should become a kind of alternative to the TRACECA project.

To optimize freight traffic, the developers of the NOSTRAC proposed establishing a ferry service between the Russian coast of the Caspian Sea and the coasts of Turkmenistan and Iran. The project provided for the development of a new ferry service. It was supposed to operate from the border of Kalmykia and Dagestan in Russia. Further, it would have linked Türkmenbaşy, formerly known as Krasnovodsk in Turkmenistan, and Amirabad in Iran. The value of the project investments was estimated at $ 2.5-3 billion.