Stanco’s Boats and a Hurricane!
The autumn season started with a definite whoosh but thankfully no bang for Stanco Exhibitions as they tackled their busiest month in history…… and a hurricane!
September kicked off with a number of high profile shows including DSEi; the world’s largest fully integrated defence and security exhibition, Offshore; Europes largest oil show and 7 other shows all built at the same time including The PSP Southampton Boat Show which threw up the most unexpected challenge.
Stanco were contracted for the shell and carpet on the event and, for the first time, shipping and lifting under the companies recently launched logistics division. PSP Southampton Boat Show was Stanco Logistics largest project to date with 184 boats lifted ranging from 250kgs to 68 tons but the surprise element was the onslaught of 35 mph winds caused by Hurricane Fred which arrived on the busiest day of build!
Nigel Foster Operations Director at Stanco Logistics says “When lifting a variety of ships and boats including a £3.5 million Sunseeker 92 the last thing any lifting company wants to face is unfavourable weather, let alone a hurricane! We had to suspend all work until the winds calmed which added pressure to the rest of the build but the team pulled together and managed to deliver an excellent service to all exhibitors.”
Murray Ellis Director of Operations for National Boat Shows says “The lifting and transportation logistics for the PSP Southampton Boat Show are complex and challenging to say the least but the task during the build -up period, even in the face of such weather conditions, was made much easier by having one team working closely together ."
Paul Slaney, Managing Director of Stanco Exhibitions says “The unexpected is something you always expect to have to factor in when building a show because you really never know what might happen. At Stanco we pride ourselves on being flexible and able to deal with anything head on and have been able to prove just that at Southampton Boat Show.”