off the most polished and logistically complete major football event in history. Hardly ever before had a sports performance made such huge demands on logistics, with improved technology bringing about a global appeal previously unseen, and certainly unimaginable as little as two decades ago.

For all the appearance of a smooth matchday operation and seemingly effortless system management – from players to media to the fans themselves – the responsibility that sits on the shoulders of logisitics service providers is colossal.

At their peak, Schenker – a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG, and one of the World Cup’s Official Suppliers – had 400 employees working at 12 stadiums and at the IBC media centre, with a further 100 involved in the background and the teams’ home countries to ensure an effortless flow of information from stadium to living room. Above: A Schenker forklift gets to work in the stadium Left: Schenker Venue Logistics Manager in Frankfurt’s stadium Summer 2007 FB 27 l o g i s t i c s FIFA President Joseph Blatter was quick to throw his support behind football’s greatest success story: “This was the best World Cup of all ages, that’s for the atmosphere and for the logistics,” he said.

That remains a great honour for Schenker, who remain committed to providing a complete platform for a tournament of any size. “We are proud of this tribute, and we are delighted that we, as the Official Logistics Services Supplier of the 2006 FIFA World Cup were able to contribute to the success of this great event,” said Dr. Thomas Lieb, who as a Member of the Management Board of Schenker AG is responsible for worldwide air and ocean freight as well as logistics services for major sport events.

The sheer size of the operation is baffling, and a marker to how intertwined media and sport are today. The company were responsible for storing, distributing and assembling 7,700 monitors for the media areas at the stadiums; each one returned to its designated box at the end of the tournament and sent back to suppliers. Media, photographers and security teams required a supply of over 15,000 chairs while the distribution of 3,300 table lamps, 1,100 cubic metres of furniture, 1,000 printers, 200 photocopiers and 250 fax machines made this a truly nationwide operation, where shortfall or lateness was not an option. In addition, the specialists provided forty specially-made containers for the ‘Fan Embassies’, as well as 200 multipurpose units for the Organising Committee and service providers. 

But a logistics provider’s involvement does not only end in its supply of the media and corporate foundations on which the event so heavily relies upon.

There is a duty of care and commitment to individual teams, with Schenker tasked with carrying out around 270 shipments of team equipment, in close coordination with airports, customs authorities and hotels, enabling media, players and staff to give their full attention to the real point of the tournament – football.

Football has moved on in colossal terms. The 1974 World Cup, held in West Germany, invited 4,000 accredited journalists to the tournament. Upon its return to united German shores last year, that number had risen to an incredible 15,000, necessitating the need for a whole community of media centres to be set up.

Included within this was over 700 tons of freight that had to be transported and installed, comprising cameras, cables, monitors, mixing consoles, stage materials and lighting; products that as well as being extremely expensive, were also delicate and vulnerable to the kinds of accident that could lead to a break in transmission.

At the IBC in Munich, Schenker organised the delivery of television equipment to the control centres and studios of the international broadcasting companies anything up to a month in advance, certainly in the case of extremely wellorganised Asian companies whose set-up was assured long before some fans had even planned their travel arrangements.

Flexibility is key to all of the aims of a complete solution provider, with a range of services that covered not only the logistical operations in connection with the match venues and teams, but also the responsibility for managing preceding and parallel events, such as the opening and closing ceremonies.

Dr Lieb continues, “Our experts are on the spot all over the world whenever we need to provide athletes, their organisations, event organisers, sponsors and the media with effective logistics services,”

In the year leading up to the World Cup, the ‘Football Globe Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup’ (a nine-metre-high light sculpture, which was sponsored by the National German Football Association Cultural Foundation) was carried by the company to promote locations on major world cities like Tokyo, Paris, Milan and Zurich. The transport of materials for the “Welcome Trip” of the FIFA Organising Committee through the qualifying countries was another matter for which Schenker was responsible. The reality of modern-day events and logistics hosting is that championships are not the sole challenge of the competing sides, but also for those who work laboriously across a period far in excess of the simple confines of the tournament itself.