Cape Town offers GAC Pindar unique logistics challenge
The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is leaving Cape Town (South Africa) today (19 November), and heading to its next stop Abu Dhabi (UAE). About 117 containers will be transported by truck (an 18 hour drive) to Port Elizabeth (South Africa), from where they will be shipped to Hong Kong on their way to Sanya (China). But before arriving in Cape Town and while all eyes of the sailing world were on seven boats travelling the 6,487 nm of the first leg, GAC Pindar tackled a logistics challenge to ensure that the Cape Town race village was ready on time.
As the official logistics provider for the Volvo Ocean Race, GAC Pindar's role includes the logistics and customs clearance of each race village in each port. The Cape Town leg presented a number of unique challenges that required meticulous planning, flawless execution and timing in order to have the race village open for the immovable 1 November deadline. Collecting containers from Port Elizabeth and Durban and the restricted space in the port of Cape Town were the main issues GAC Pindar had to cope with.