OREANDA-NEWS. On 5 February in the Moscow office of PAO Sovcomflot (SCF) the Minister for Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov awarded employees of SCG Group with state awards on behalf of the country's leadership, honouring their contributions to the development of the port of Sochi's maritime infrastructure.

By decree of the President of the Russian Federation:

The Order of Friendship was awarded to Vladimir Fedorovich Derkunov, General Director of OAO Port of Sochi;

A medal of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland was awarded to Igor Vasilyevich Tonkovidov, Executive Vice-President and Technical Director of PAO Sovcomflot;

Yury Aleksandrovich Tsvetkov, President of OAO Novoship, received a letter of appreciation from the President of the Russian Federation.

Speaking to Sovcomflot staff, Mr Sokolov called the company a shining example of a modern and successfully run commercial enterprise. He added: "The company's contribution to the development of Russia's southern naval borders in the port of Sochi have been a logical step in the implementation of its development strategy. The successful reconstruction of Sochi's maritime infrastructure has opened up new opportunities for the town, as an important centre for tourism and sport on the Black Sea coast".

As part of the preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics, SCF Group designed a modern yachting harbour (the Sochi Grand Marina), restored the historic harbour station, and built several new facilities that were used during the 22nd Winter Olympics and 11th Winter Paralympic Games. In May 2014 the new infrastructure was used to host the Black Sea Tall Ships Regatta, an international competition for SCF's training vessels which for the first time in its history visited the ports of Russia's Black Sea.