Gefco Group supports Bimedia Challenge with its logistics expertise

GEFCO Group, a global player in industrial logistics and European leader in automotive logistics, is supporting navigator Yvan Bourgnon to achieve his Bimedia challenge, a great one: reaching Greenland from Alaska through the Northwest Passage with his sporting catamaran, in the middle of the Arctic ice.

The adventure will begin in Nome, a town located in the far-western area of Alaska, with a planned arrival 45 to 50 days later in Nuuk, Greenland, on the East coast of the Davis Strait. His solo challenge is expected to achieve a record that will be recognized by the World Sailing Record Council, the official organization that confirms sailing records.

The Northwest Passage, exclusively used by motor boats so far, is only open a few weeks a year. That is why Yvan Bourgnon asked GEFCO to provide its logistical support, enabling him to transport his catamaran from the port of Antwerp (Belgium) to Nome under extremely tight deadlines, so that he can weigh anchor in time and take advantage of the ice thawing. The 6.30 meterlong catamaran arrived by cargo ship in Seattle, Washington, USA, in separate pieces, and was then shipped by fast-line ship to Anchorage, Alaska. It was finally boarded on a Hercules C-130 cargo plane to arrive in Nome on June 26th. The whole operation has been carried out by the GEFCO Freight Forwarding activity, specialized in multimodal freight.

Yvan Bourgnon will get underway in the beginning of July and sail alone, on his sailboat without a cockpit, along the ice floe, close to polar bears and sea mammals.
GEFCO is proud to have brought its know-how to enable Yvan Bourgnon to embark on this unique adventure, which illustrates some of the Group's values, such as a sense of human challenge, operational quality, flexibility and risk management for its clients.