Volga-Dnepr completes air-sea delivery of patrol boats to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has delivered four Mangust patrol boats to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Far East of Russia and provided its customer with additional logistics services, including the launch of boats at the port of Korsakov.

The boats, built at the Vympel Shipyard in Rybinsk for the Border Guard Service, were carried onboard two An-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ flights from Tunoshna airport near Yaroslavl and were loaded onto the aircraft using a ramp, rail system and a crane. Each one measured 19 metres in length and weighed 32 tonnes.

“These An-124 flights were operated for our customer, Vympel Shipyard, with the addition of a broad range of logistics services provided by Volga-Dnepr. These included arranging crane-lift at the departure and arrival airports, the ground transportation of the boats to the port of Korsakov as well as their launch in Korsakov, another first in the history of Volga-Dnepr,” said Alexander Kartashov, Key Account Executive at Volga-Dnepr Airlines.

He added: “It was necessary to consider various different factors in completing this operation, including the typhoon conditions in Sakhalin and the challenging sea conditions. We did this successfully and, as a result, the boats were delivered, launched and provided on-time to the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.”

Volga-Dnepr has gained considerable experience of moving seagoing vessels over the past 26 years.

Over this period, it has transported yachts, submarines, submersibles, rescue vessels and patrol boats, including previous flights carrying Russian Mangust boats. The airline has safely delivered these unique types of cargo all over the world.