Press Releases
SYDNEY, 5 September 2000 - The world's biggest TV show is
about to go to air and the cast, crew and equipment have
been arriving daily. The TV show, of course, is the Sydney
Olympic Games and it's attracting big stars and big broadcast
equipment.
Two recent heavy and bulky arrivals have been a Federal Express
(FedEx) planeload of star horses from the USA and a consignment
of specialised television equipment weighing 20 tonnes from
Brazil.
The horses, for the US Olympic Cross Country Equestrian
team, landed at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport after a
22-hour flight aboard a FedEx aircraft.
The television equipment is from Brazil's TV Globo and consists
of nearly 150 individual pieces representing the bulk of
the equipment with which TV Globo will broadcast the Games.
Valued at over US$500,000, the equipment was loaded onto
FedEx's wide body MD11 in Brazil and came to Australia via
Los Angeles and Honolulu.
"With the amount of equipment that required transportation,
working with customs on pre-clearance of the shipments was
an early priority for FedEx. We started the clearance process
about six weeks ahead of the equipment's arrival. While customs
clearance of shipments is an integral part of the service
we offer customers, the smooth transition of these shipments
was really a credit to the customs department's understanding
and efficiency," said Don Hardy, Managing Director of FedEx
Australasian.
Being the industry's acknowledged "heavyweight specialist",
FedEx has transported various Olympic shipments that have
been too heavy or awkward for other carriers.
In Australia, FedEx employs approximately 360 people, operating
five weekly flights into Australia and on to Asia using wide-body
MD-11 aircraft. FedEx's Australasian headquarters are located
at Mascot, near Sydney Airport, and the company has offices
in all mainland Australian capital cities.
FedEx Express, a $15 billion subsidiary of FedEx Corp., connects
areas that generate 90% of the world's gross domestic product
in 24-48 hours with door-to-door, customs-cleared service
and a money-back guarantee*. The company's unmatched air
route authorities and infrastructure make it the world's
largest express transportation company, providing fast, reliable
and time-definite transportation of more than 3.3 million
items to 210 countries each working day. FedEx employs approximately
145,000 employees and has more than 45,800 drop-off locations,
663 aircraft and 44,500 vehicles in its integrated global
network. The company maintains electronic connections with
more than 2.5 million customers via FedEx Powership®,
FedEx Ship® and FedEx interNetShip®.
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