January 9 - One of Volga-Dnepr Airlines' AN-124-100 freighters has delivered equipment from Saint Petersburg to the Russian Far East in support of a project to modernise the infrastructure at Vladivostok Airport.
The equipment consisted of modular transformer substations used for lighting the airport's commercial and military aprons as well as a scaled mock-up of the airport reconstruction plan for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation(APEC) Summit that takes place in Vladivostok on September 8th and 9th 2012. The AN-124 (pictured below) flight was operated for TransStroyMekhanizatsiya LLC (TSM), a leading engineering and construction company in the Russian market for airport, road and hydraulic engineering construction.
The 63 tonnes of cargo was packaged in special containers and included one that posed a loading challenge due to its displaced centre of gravity, preventing the use of standard overhead cranes. Volga-Dnepr's experts helped to find a solution and the complex challenge was resolved using a tailored loading procedure involving special beams. To support this procedure, Volga-Trucks, a specialist trucking company within Volga-Dnepr Group, delivered the necessary tooling to Saint Petersburg on the day before the flight.
As part of its general support of the flight, Volga-Dnepr's Engineering & Logistics Center (ELC) also provided terminal services, arranging documentation and transportation of the cargo from the Pulkovo terminal to the aircraft.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC was established in 1989 to enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community.