Wednesday 20 June 2012

Exporting Caviar

I do tend to drop the odd transport post in here occasionally, and as usual I'm giving an early warning for those who'd prefer to bunk off elsewhere.

For someone who knows the logistical nightmare involved in packing expensive Rolls Royces for freight to Australia and the Middle East, along with other unusual cargoes in the past, the planning and organisation involved in transporting a priceless thoroughbred 10,000 miles to take part at Royal Ascot is pretty awesome.

Black Caviar is competing in front of the Queen on Saturday hoping to achieve a 22nd consecutive race win but, whether she does so or not, her owners have taken on an immense challenge to get her over here.

The tailored compression suit she wore for the journey has been much talked-about but, being the geek that I am, that's just a small part of an awesome feat of logistics for me.

The video below details how nothing has been left to chance to make sure she arrives in as perfect a condition as possible (for a bigger version, the original is here).


As mentioned in the piece, things have moved on somewhat from when Phar Lap made an ill-fated trip from Australia to the US in the 1930s. For the modern day equivalent, there's no comparison.

OK, you can wake up now, normal service will be resumed in time for the next article.