UPS today completed the first phase of competition logistics for the London Prepares series of testevents designed to ensure the British capital is ready for next year’s Olympic Games.
Competitions featuring seven different Olympic sporting disciplines over 18 days will kickoff tomorrow at the ExCel London centre, carried out by the Organising Committee of the London 2012Olympic and Paralympic Games.
As the first round of live competition starts tomorrow, with the Boxing and Table Tennisevents, UPS said its logistical role will continue across 18 days of sporting action, as eventsincluding Fencing, Judo and Weightlifting take place in preparation for the London 2012 Games.
Just as the athletes involved will be using the London Prepares series as a stepping stone totheir goal of competing in the London 2012 Games, so UPS has been using each event as a test casefor how logistical operations will be delivered next summer to all venues.
With 19 test events already completed during the summer, UPS has taken on its biggestchallenge to date at ExCeL London, managing the complex task of ensuring equipment associated withmultiple sports are delivered, installed and removed to a tight schedule within a single venue.
In time for the first London Prepares event tomorrow, UPS has delivered into ExCeL Londonitems including 9,000 pieces of furniture, 7,870 sqm of sports arena flooring, 3 truckloads oftiming and scoring equipment, 2 truckloads of technology equipment, and 1 boxing ring.
Over the next 18 days, UPS will continue to deliver and install equipment for the sevensporting events taking place, including over 5 truckloads of safety mats for the Wrestling, Judoand Taekwondo competitions and over 7,400kg of weights for the Weightlifting competition.
As the Official Logistics and Express Delivery Supporter of the London 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games, UPS is using the London Prepares series to demonstrate its capabilities inexecuting complex logistics in live environments similar to those which will be in operation duringthe London 2012 Games.
“ExCeL London has been our biggest test yet, simply because of the number of different sportstaking place over a period of just a few days,” said Cindy Miller, Managing Director, UPS UK,Ireland & Nordics. “Ordinarily, these are sports which wouldn’t be staged together, so therehas been a lot of unique planning that has gone into ensuring everything is delivered and in placefor each upcoming event, while at the same time removing all the equipment used from previousevents. It’s a huge challenge, but one that has been a thrill for our team to work on because theyknow this is all about getting ready for the big stage of the London 2012 Games.”
UPS is responsible for virtually all logistics services for the London 2012 Olympic andParalympic Games via an integrated supply chain solution that includes venue logistics services,warehousing services and a distribution network that will collect and deliver everything fromdocuments to heavy freight. UPS also will be responsible for all customs clearance, freightforwarding and courier services before, during and after the London 2012 Olympic and ParalympicGames.
