If you haven’t seen the Jaguar Land Rover Dragon Challenge before, an achievement for the car and driver, Ho-Pin Tung.
They handled 11 kilometres of winding, mountain road, access not designed for a vehicle and 999 steps to Heaven’s Gate. The largest natural arch on our planet, formed when the back of a cave fell into the void below.
A captivating journey and great PR work for the car. Behind the scenes activity may be less exciting, although still plays a part in reaching the objective.
Moving The Equipment
Two cars were taken to try on the mountain, a Range Rover Sport V8 and the main thrust of the promotion, a Sport P400e hybrid.
Spares, tools, filming kit and an array of ancillary equipment needed to accompany them. All safely crated to travel via Stuttgart to Beijing Airport, then by road to Heaven’s Gate.
Keeping the pre-release vehicle under wraps and to an extent the project, required a little disguise. The transporters used were made to look like garbage trucks.
The team’s journey went well, in practical and compliance terms. An ATA carnet had been provided for most items.
Using an ATA carnet in China requires careful preparation. In this case, they sent a courier out the day before arrival with the carnet, to ensure all was understood.
Achieving The Result
For Jaguar, the achievement belongs to their team and driver, although a little to their logistics support, along with the international ATA carnet system.
We have used carnets for a few extreme projects in terms of location, or size and recently heard of another, weighty delivery.
Fifty tons of submergible cable were sent from China to Norway, via The Netherlands. Essential to an oil exploration venture and sheperded throughout the journey by an ATA carnet.
An interesting story in itself, not least when Rotterdam couldn’t manage the heavier part in the normal way and this ended up being moved by barge.
Part of life for all who work in the logistics industry, or simply need to travel for business. If you have any unusual project needs where a carnet may help, our support team relish a challenge.