TNT Logistics transports valuable yacht to Portugal
30 December 2004 - 09:59 CET
On 30 December 2004, TNT Showfreight, part of TNT Logistics Benelux, hoisted the first of two TEAM ABN AMRO Volvo-70 race yachts aboard a freighter in Rotterdam. The christening of the yacht will take place in Portimão, Portugal on 17 January. ABN AMRO has also asked TNT Showfreight, specialist in logistics services for international events, to provide logistics support during the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006.The high-tech yacht, designed by the renowned designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, was commissioned by ABN AMRO and built in utmost secrecy at the wharf of Schaap Ship Care. The yacht, measuring seventy feet and expected to reach speeds of over forty knots, attracted significant attention from the press and public during its journey to Rotterdam, where it was hoisted aboard an ocean freighter. Following the christening, skipper Mike Sanderson of TEAM ABN AMRO and his crew will spend the subsequent months familiarising themselves with this exceptional yacht.
ABN AMRO and TNT Logistics are pleased with the progress of this first transport and are confidently looking to the future. TNT will fully supply both TEAM ABN AMRO yachts during the race. The company will also transport clothing for the crew, dinghies and building materials for the VIP village that ABN AMRO will set up at each port of call. TNT is currently planning this massive logistics operation in detail.
TEAM ABN AMRO will enter two yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race, which is considered the world's largest and most challenging race. After an initial sailing round in Sanxenxo, Spain, the starting shot will be fired for at least six teams in the Spanish port of Vigo on 12 November 2005. The first leg will take the competitors over 6,400 nautical miles to Cape Town. Following a further eight legs and eight months later, the race will end in Gothenburg.
