As Alec Coles, CEO, Western Australian Museum, says: “This exhibition features some of the most unique priceless items anywhere in the world, and so security and safe transit is absolutely critical. The support we’ve had from Cathay has been absolutely phenomenal. In many ways, it’s actually enabled us to show the exhibition.”

The solution

GSS is an experienced artworks and exhibition forwarder with bases in Asia and across the Southwest Pacific. They worked with partner agents in the Chinese Mainland to prepare and pack each artefact. Nigel Chynoweth, Regional Head of Cargo, Southwest Pacific says that Cathay Cargo was chosen as carrier by GSS because of our expertise and long experience in valuable artwork shipment handling. 

The first task for the Cathay Cargo’s teams on the Chinese Mainland was to plot a route that made the most logistical sense and to work around the limited availability of inbound cargo capacity to Australia while ensuring that the artefacts could travel in the short timeframe with required security and contingencies built in. 

The plan was to collate and fly everything from Zhengzhou to Hong Kong across two scheduled passenger flights and one scheduled Boeing 747 freighter service. For the second leg of the journey, smaller artefacts would be carried via direct passenger service to Perth, while larger items would continue on another freighter service to Melbourne before being driven between the two cities on air-ride trucks. Trucks from Xi’an were tracked via GPS, and the cargo was gathered in a secure and segregated area in the terminal under CCTV supervision, and a dedicated WeChat group was set up only for the shipment stakeholders. 

Shipping was handled using two of Cathay Cargo’s solutions, Cathay Secure and Cathay Expert – a reflection of the value, irregular sizes and fragility of the air cargo, as well as the security and CCTV reassurance required to ensure safe delivery. 

“Cathay Expert is customisable so loading plans were made in conjunction with the shippers to securely load them in areas with less effect from landing forces, which is just one example of the exacting detail that our teams went to,” says Wendy Ge, Head of Cargo Chinese Mainland. 

As time was of the essence, Chynoweth says another solution was added to the mix: “The exhibition items also travelled under our Cathay Priority 1 service, which means they must ride.” 

The outcome

It is truly great when a plan comes together. “The trust with your partners is incredibly important in securing such a prestigious exhibition, and the artefacts that are associated with it,” says Jason Fair, Director of Engagement at the Western Australian Museum. “That trust extends to our partners like Cathay, who have been entrusted with bringing us these amazing artefacts all the way from China. Everything of course has arrived in pristine condition. I was very lucky to see the first Warrior unpacked, and when the lid was lifted off it was absolutely in pristine condition.”

All stages of the process – preparations in the Chinese Mainland, departures by air, change of aircraft in Hong Kong, arrival in Australia and final-mile trucking delivery – went smoothly. “We’re incredibly proud that the Western Australian Museum trusted us to move these prized artefacts; it has been a very special experience,” adds Chynoweth. 

Director Cargo Tom Owen concludes: “It’s been a privilege to be entrusted with these priceless cultural artefacts, and to be a trusted partner of the Central Government, using Hong Kong as a gateway to connect these vital cultural artefacts to the world. It was a real honour to carry these pieces from the Chinese Mainland to Australia, and the teams involved should be given full credit for making the journey smooth and uneventful.”