UPS was appointed by the Beijing Olympic Games Committee to be the official express delivery sponsor in 2005, and in the following two years they completed a series of tests to sporting events in China, rehearsing for the big day. From its inception and until June this year, more than 3 million shipments have been handled. Largest were boat frames at 58 cubic metres and the longest were 10.9 metre canoes.
The company plans to employ a minimum of 1,500 staff for the duration, a jump from the normal staff roster of 500, and will use 104 environment-friendly Chinese-built vans for deliveries. The Shunyi centre consists of four warehouses, at about 100,000 square meters and a vehicle marshalling area. This is their largest in the Asia network, and the largest single customer center operated in the world by UPS.
Because of quarantine regulations, the equestrian events must be held in Hong Kong and some 300 horses will be flown in. Communications manager for the Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals, Jennifer Lam, said the details of the horse handling would be announced shortly. HACTL has its own handling centre specifi cally for live animals.