March 4 - London headquartered forwarder Anglo Pacific has been tasked with an unusual shipment - the famous Wembley Stadium royal tunnel gates to a museum in Chile.
The iconic 16 ft (4.87 m) square gates will form part of Museo de la Moda's collection of pieces related to football, tennis and other sports, in Santiago.
According to Terry Horsnell, fine art consultant, Anglo Pacific: "The gates were stored up in a yard in Kettering and just getting them out, vertical to remove and then horizontal to travel, was a mission."
He explained that to shift the gates a route was to planned to avoid overhead power lines and obstructions. "We then had to liaise with the authorities to get the necessary wide load permits for the evening road trip from Kettering to Anglo Pacific's warehouses in London - which are thankfully well-equipped to receive large and heavy items."
Horsnell added that for the Atlantic crossing the gates were too large for standard containers and had to be packaged in timber casing, lifted with specialist equipment and shipped as conventional below-deck cargo.
"A shipment like this only comes four or five times a year, a recent comparable was a 16 ft high Salvador Dalí statue we transported to Singapore, and it's great fun to fine-tune all the logistical intricacies," Horsnell added.
The Wembley gates are expected to arrive in Santiago on March 24.
