October 8 - Over 130 professional and amateur photographers from 23 countries submitted entries to a special photographic competition organised by Volga-Dnepr Group to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Antonov AN-124 freighter's maiden flight.
A Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) surface will be laid at the gateway, which is more suitable for heavy traffic and loads endured by paved surfaces at shipping terminals. GPA has committed just under USD5 million to the high-density paving project.
According to Curtis Foltz, executive director, GPA, "This project will provide greater capacity in moving oversized roll-on/roll off cargo at Ocean Terminal."
The competition invited photographers to send in their favourite images of the unique AN-124-100 'Ruslan' aircraft as well as pictures of the other freighters in the Group's fleet, notably Boeing 747s operated by AirBridgeCargo Airlines and IL-76TD-90VD cargo aircraft in the colours of Volga-Dnepr Airlines .
The panel of competition judges was headed by Alexey Isaikin , President of Volga-Dnepr Group. Given the high number of entries and the impressive quality of the photo images, the judges had a difficult time selecting a winning photograph in the three award categories. Entries to the competition depicted the outstanding cargo capability of the three aircraft as well as their sheer size and unique design features.
In addition to the winners selected by the judges, visitors to a special competition website also had the opportunity to vote for their favourite photographs and a 'People's Choice' prize was presented to the most popular image. In total, more than 3,000 people from 50 countries visited the website to view the 380 photos posted online.
The best works submitted to the competition will feature in a special Volga-Dnepr calendar and the Group hopes to continue a working relationship with some of the outstanding photographers that took part.
The Grand Prix was won by Ognyan Stefanov from Bulgaria for his photo of the ÀN-124-100 freighter taking off from Sofia Airport. He was presented with a special transportation case for his camera equipment. The winning photos in the fleet categories - ÀN-124, IL-76, and B747 - were presented by Stewart Marshall (Hamilton, UK), Marina Lystceva (Moscow, Russia) and Rodion Kuznetsov (Angarsk, Russia). Each of the winners will receive an Alpha Industries MA-1 D-TEC flight jacket. Further prizes were awarded to the runners-up in each category.
All of the prizewinners and nominees will be issued with diplomas by Volga-Dnepr Group and a copy of the commemorative calendar featuring the winning photos.
www.volga-dnepr.com