By the time athletes start competing for medals at the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the logistics experts of DB Schenker will have completed the bulk of their work. Schenker Deutschland AG is once again the official co-partner of the German Olympic team, as well as the exclusive logistics provider for the German House in Rio.
The company has so far sent 1,030 TEU to the host city: Equipment for the Olympic Village and the German national team for example. DB Schenker subsidiaries from other countries are also contributing to their teams’ preparations.
“Hardly anybody is aware of just how complex the logistics behind the Games are,” says Jochen Thewes, CEO of Schenker AG. “We are shipping almost 1.3 million separate items just to equip the Olympic Village.”
This service also covers air freight deliveries and customs formalities, some of which pose quite a challenge. About 500 items of luggage have been sent to Rio for the German delegation. On behalf of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, DB Schenker has dispatched a total of six 40-foot containers with sailboats and accessories, team medical supplies, workshop equipment and office material. There is also a further 60 tonnes of air freight for Rio, comprising sports equipment for rowers and canoeists, training material, and teams’ clothing.
DB Schenker has assumed complete logistics management control for the Rio 2016 German House. This role sees it provide everything from power cables and barstools to wine and champagne, and it has even overseen the delivery of a container with a fully assembled baking line to ensure that the athletes in Rio have fresh bread rolls.
As the official logistics partner for the teams from Austria, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland, national subsidiaries in these countries are also making sure that their athletes’ equipment makes it to Rio on time for the Games. DB Schenker staff from China, Japan and South Korea have seen to the transportation of TV equipment, while colleagues in Singapore handled the delivery of their sailing team’s boats and equipment.
By the end of June, DB Schenker had transported approx. 940 TEUs containing furniture, most of which was sourced in Asia, to the Olympic Village. Material for the opening and closing ceremonies in the Maracana Stadium was delivered from Italy, Germany, Canada, and Australia. The logistics experts will be keeping up this excellent work after the Games close on August 21, as most of the items have to return to where they came from, or be forwarded to the next sporting event.
