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EFM Freight for Asian Games
As 40,000 spectators and an estimated three billion television viewers watched the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, at the Khalifa Stadium, Doha, Qatar, EFM was gearing up for the final push in the logistical exercise of a lifetime.
Event freighting and logistics freighting specialists EFM has been working with a number of event suppliers and sporting competitors to freight an extraordinary range of equipment to Qatar for the games, including vital kit for the opening and closing ceremonies, which are reputed to be the most expensive such events in the history of sport.
The list of items the company was asked to transport ranged from the extraordinary to the mundane. “We transported 80 tonnes of lighting and video equipment for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies from the UK, USA, Hong Kong, France, Germany and Australia, to the Khalifa Stadium,” says Lisa Ryan, operations director of EFM.
“All this was as the airport came to a standstill for a month during Ramadam, and the airport became congested,” she says.
The equestrian events alone required five horse ambulances from the UK for the show jumping venue (client: the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee (DAGOC)), plus six containers of fencing from France.
One major supplier, Siemens, constructed a temporary airport terminal at Doha airport, for which EFM imported the temporary seating from Spain. Power supply machinery and giant generators came in 35 containers by ship from Germany, Australia, Austria, Ireland and the UK.
The event’s Main Media Centre required photographic materials, office administration equipment and broadcasting kit for official photographers, broadcasters and their suppliers, not to mention two 20-foot site hut containers containing giant satellite dishes and broadcasting equipment, sent by freighter plane from the UK.
DAGOC officials took grateful delivery of branding, signage, furniture, flagpoles, javelins, and assorted sports equipment from Sweden, Japan, Australia, USA, UK, Hungary and Korea.
Meanwhile, a small army of models required designer clothing from New York, Paris and Manila for the range of fashion events.
But as the final note of the closing ceremony fell, EFM’s work was about to start all over again, as it all has to be transported back to where it comes from.
21st December 2006
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