DHL has secured the exclusive rights to all international and domestic freight transport for the event in a tender. This will probably also include the transport of the new trophy for the overall winner.
In addition to its involvement in Formula 1, Global Fashion Week and the Rugby World Cup, the company has now also recognised sailing as an advertising platform. "The Volvo Ocean Race is a truly global project of world-class calibre. It allows us to prove that we are able to fulfil our service promise worldwide under difficult conditions within extremely tight time frames and to manage the complex logistics of major sporting events," says Thomas George, DHL's Chief Freight Officer.
According to DHL, its core services include the transport of freight and sailing equipment by air, sea and land, in particular from port to port. DHL is responsible for the complete logistics management - from the collection of a sailing team's freight at the agreed location to the timely delivery of the containers to the next stopover. In addition to air, sea and road transport, DHL will provide participants with full tracking and tracing of their freight during transport and take care of customs clearance and storage of transported goods.
The upcoming Volvo Ocean Race starts in autumn 2011 in the Spanish port city of Alicante and ends in summer 2012 in Galway, Ireland. During the nine-month sailing race, the teams will cover over 39,000 nautical miles. The route leads via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya (China) and Auckland, around Cape Horn and from there to Itajai (Brazil), Miami, Lisbon and Lorient (France). The first race of this kind took place in 1973/74; it will be organised for the eleventh time in 2011/12.
This is also reflected in the new trophy for the overall winner. The tower-like trophy made of aluminium and silver is made up of eleven interconnected rings, each ring representing one edition of the event. The year, the route, the winning boat and its skipper are engraved on each ring, while the eleventh ring will be inscribed at the end of the next race. After that, there will be a ring for each subsequent race, so the trophy could theoretically grow endlessly.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
