-
It isn’t all parcels, pallets, planeloads, and packed shipping containers for DHL
-
Some shipments range from the quaint to the unusual
-
This year, the company has had to deliver the likes of James Bond memorabilia, a mobile clinic, an entire orchestra’s musical instruments, more than 150 vultures, and one injured chimpanzee
It isn’t all parcels, pallets, planeloads, and packed shipping containers for DHL.
Some shipments range from the quaint to the unusual, the company said in a statement.
This year, DHL has had to deliver the likes of James Bond memorabilia, a mobile clinic, an entire orchestra’s musical instruments, more than 150 vultures, and one injured chimpanzee.
It takes a lot to bring fictional superspy James Bond to the big screen. Transporting memorabilia from the long-running franchise can be just as difficult as filming 007’s adventures.
In August, this year, DHL transported more than 130 pieces of James Bond items on a 200-mile trip from the “Bond in Motion” exhibit in Prague to the “007 Action” display in Vienna.
The iconic Aston Martin DB5 was just one of 27 cars, eight motorcycles, costumes, and parachutes delivered, not to mention a high-speed ice dragster and a helicopter, all from such movies as Goldfinger, No Time to Die, and Die Another Day. DHL used 22 trucks for the exhibit, including specialized enclosed car carriers with hydraulic lifts.
Then there are the 11 containers used to transport a mobile heart clinic from Germany to El Salvador.
In February, this year, DHL delivered the world’s first mobile heart clinic across oceans, a trip of some 6,000 miles from Bremen, Germany to Zacamil, El Salvador.
German non-profit Kinderherzen had developed the clinic to provide life-saving surgery for children with congenital heart defects.
The 11 containers were transported by sea and by land, and after a 15-day set-up, the clinic was off and running, offering free treatments to young patients. The clinic remained in El Salvador until May 2024, after which it was transferred to Burundi, East Africa, where it continued its mission.
Japanese music lovers can also thank DHL, which took charge of moving the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s instruments to Japan last September.
Some 60 instruments were involved, almost all of high value, in a complex logistical endeavor that involved meticulous planning in a journey of around 6,000 miles by air and road. Included were double basses, cellos, timpani, and a harp, all of which were kept in a constant temperature between 17 and 21 degrees Celsius to prevent warping or cracking.
All instruments arrived on time, landing first in Hamamatsu, then on to Nagoya, Osaka, and finally Tokyo.
And if sensitive musical instruments pose multiple challenges, imagine how difficult it is to transport 163 living vultures.
In January, this year, the 163 Cape and African White-backed vultures were relocated from Pretoria to a wildlife preserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
The voyage covered 650 miles, using two 34-ton trucks, with five support and security vehicles. The 18-hour trip was backstopped by more than 50 volunteers who loaded the critically endangered birds.
It was the largest vulture relocation project ever undertaken.
Then there is the heart-warming story of a disabled chimpanzee named Chocolat.
The animal was transported from Kenya to the UK in August, this year. Chocolat had been saved as an infant in 2001, surviving an attack from poachers who killed her mother. The then infant chimp suffered shotgun pellet wounds that left her with a paralyzed hand and foot.
Her original rescuer in Kenya kept Chocolat for more than two decades, but by this year it became clear that she needed a specialized sanctuary where she could get the best possible care.
That place is the Monkey World Ape Rescue Center in Dorset, UK.
She had been flown by DHL from Nairobi to East Midlands Airport in the UK, ending with a road trip to Dorset.
Chocolat was introduced to six other chimpanzees at her new home, becoming the family that she had been missing since her earliest years.
