DB Schenker to race Sailing Arabia - The Tour with all-female crew

Sports Tuesday 07/February/2017 16:27 PM
By: Times News Service
DB Schenker to race Sailing Arabia - The Tour with all-female crew

Muscat: Leading global logistics provider DB Schenker, accustomed to managing hundreds of thousands of sea freight containers, is about to engage in a different kind of ocean experience this year.
Dutch Olympic sailing star Annemieke Bes will lead the first ever DB Schenker yacht to compete in EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour.
In its seventh year, EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour is an annual event in which world class sailors compete over a 763-nautical mile course that spans the Arabian Gulf.
It has become the most prestigious race in the Middle East and is the only annual rate of its type in the world, with a mix of long offshore legs and intense in-port racing.
In 2017, the fleet will start in Muscat and sail to other ports in Oman, the UAE and Qatar before the closing event in Dubai.
DB Schemer’s skipper, three-time Olympian and Silver medalist, Annemieke Bes, will lead an enthusiastic team of experienced European and Omani women that include one of the Middle East’s first professional sailors.
The crew not only wants to deliver a credible and competitive performance in the race, they also aim to inspire other women in the GCC to follow their footsteps in sailing.
DB Schenker supports the team’s ambitions.
“The participation in Sailing Arabia the Tour shows our ongoing commitment to the Middle East, as well as our vision in setting new standards and exploring opportunities – both in business and society. We are extremely proud to be part of such an amazing event,” Karl-Heinz Emberger, CEO of Schenker Middle East and Africa, said.
Managing logistics
To remain fully focused on the races, the crews of EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour rely on professional logistics solutions. Boats and sailing gears need to be transported and customs processes completed.
A smooth immigration process has to be arranged allowing the teams to quickly recover after an exhausting offshore race. All this will run outside of the event’s spotlight – organised by DB Schenker, experts in this field and the official logistics provider and partner of Sailing Arabia - The Tour.
“Managing the complex logistics processes efficiently is critical for the success of each individual team,” Andreas Barth, Head of DB Schenker’s Event logistics team for the Middle East, said.
“We are fascinated with the challenge and with our extensive experience in events logistics such as the Olympic Games, world championships and other major sports events we are confident to deliver a credible logistics performance behind the races of EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour,” he added.