Tigers takes pride in its lion delivery

The shipment of a 4.3m high
lion sculpture from Cape
Town to the UK was literally a
tall order – but all in a day’s work
for logistics major Tigers.
The 3-tonne, 8m-long
sculpture, created by South
African artist Bruce Little and
commissioned by the safari
park to commemorate its 50th
anniversary, was transported
from the Strand in Cape Town to
Longleat Safari and Adventure
Park in the UK.
Tigers Port Elizabeth export
controller, Eddie Need, said the
biggest challenge was its height.
“Moving the sculpture from
Strand to Cape Town harbour
took a week. We had to avoid any
routes with bridges, walkways or
powerlines – and the height of the
sculpture also required the use of
18m-long, super lowbed trailers
on both the South African and
UK land legs of its journey.”
Integral to its safe delivery was
adequate crating, said Need.
Cargo Handling Specialists
(previously Cape Crating) was
tasked with the challenge of
building a heavy-duty 4.7m-high
crate around the sculpture at Cape
Town harbour.
“Our scope of work was to
supply the heavy-duty crate; pack
and secure the sculpture inside
the crate; and then apply a heat
shrink wrap,” said CHS managing
director Owen Bottomley.
The sculpture was offloaded
at London Gateway Port and
delivered by lowbed trailer to the
park earlier this year – a total
journey of 26 days.
CAPTION
Having travelled more than 8 000 miles, Longleat’s Lion was successfully
delivered to its new home on March 16 this year.