Sustainability powers Kuehne+Nagel's 100 tonnes sports shipment run for Team Germany's Olympic journey
Marking a sustainable start to Team Germany's foray into the ongoing Beijing Olympics, leading logistics service provider Kuehne+Nagel has shipped a whopping 100 tonnes of sports equipment from Germany to Beijing on SAF-powered flights of Lufthansa Cargo recently.
Kuehne+Nagel who was a key partner for the Olympic Team Germany and Team Germany Paralympics ensured that sports equipment reached Beijing on time for its athletes who are competing in the Beijing Olympics that began on February 4th and are slated to go on till 20th February. The recent shipments include all sports equipment and the complete equipment of the 400-strong Team Germany delegation including 14 bobs, 16 luge sleds, 12 skeleton sleds, 400 bags of clothing, and medical equipment among others.
Close on the heels of this development, the Kuehne+Nagel team are slated to repeat the mammoth exercise again for Team Germany Paralympics who will be competing at the Paralympic Games that begin in March.
Kuehne+Nagel was a key partner for the Olympic Team Germany and Team Germany Paralympics (Pic Kuehne + Nagel)
Speaking exclusively to The STAT Trade Times on the nature and detail of the cargo shipped for the Beijing Olympics, a spokesperson for Kuehne+Nagel said, "All sports equipment for the DOSB (German Olympic team) such as Bobsleds, sledges, skis, etc and for example 14 bobs, 10 skeletons, 16 sledges were shipped. This also included broadcast equipment, equipment for the devices (dangerous goods, etc), and sportswear (official clothes of DOSB for Olympia). The goods were on several LH (Lufthansa) direct flights ex FRA (Frankfurt Airport) to PEK (Beijing Capital International Airport) in 9-10 hours flight time. The freight was handed over to the Chinese partners at Beijing airport and then transferred to the Olympic village." Incidentally, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund) also called DOSB is the non-governmental umbrella organization of German sport.
Throughout this mammoth exercise, Kuehne+Nagel has ensured that equipment is available in the right place at the right time during the 16-day run of the Olympic Games, so that the athletes can concentrate on their sporting achievements. It also ensured the logistical infrastructure of Team Germany remains in the mountain cluster on the outskirts of Beijing.
Most of the equipment was flown as general cargo in Express Service to secure the uplift on time (Pic Lufthansa Cargo)
Since sports shipments for the Beijing Olympics are time-critical and require special handling and care, the spokesperson added, "All (equipment) were packed in stable cases and boxes which are made for transportation. Please consider that this equipment is transported every week from each competition site to the next one during the regular season. Therefore there is everything in place to handle it properly. Most were flown as general cargo in Express Service to secure the uplift on time. No temperature-controlled cargo, but dangerous goods (electronic devices) (were present)."
As the sports equipment is still in use by the athletes until shortly before the games, it is transported by air to Beijing and back again after the games. As per a release from Kuehne+Nagel, its expo and event team have been preparing intensively for the assignment in Beijing over the past few months. Owing to the pandemic planning aspects could only be determined at extremely short notice and a team from Kuehne+Nagel is also on-site with a significantly reduced team.
After the Olympic Winter Games wind up, the team is also slated to ensure a smooth logistics process for Team Germany Paralympics at the Paralympic Games. The Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games which is an international winter multi-sport and parasport event is scheduled to take place in Beijing between 4-13 March 2022.
Lufthansa Cargo has been a partner for the transport of sports equipment for the Olympic team. (Pic Lufthansa Cargo)
Speaking on how technology is allowing the teams to stay on top of the sports shipments for the to and fro journeys, the spokesperson added, "Our Kuehne+Nagel system is connected to all carrier track-and-trace systems working with automated and customized alerts enabling us to be always in the driver seat and have full transparency during every step of the air transport. Some of the repatriation activities have already started,"
Speaking to The STAT Trade Times, Julia Leukel, Senior Manager Communications, and spokesperson for Lufthansa Cargo said, "For many years, Lufthansa Cargo has been a reliable partner for the transport of sports equipment for the Olympic team. The transports of the sports equipment are particularly time-critical and require great care and experience. We are very proud that we were able to take over such important transports again this year."
