Kuehne + Nagel is managing the transport for the Ben Hur Live musical across 14 venues.
Art Concepts, which developed the show, awarded Kuehne + Nagel’s KN Expo Service division the contract for the world premiere of the show in London and for its subsequent European tour.
K+N is managing and executing the transport for all stage materials to and from the different venues using 36 tractors with mega trailers.
The company partly deploys triple driver crews using bus shuttles to ensure a smooth change over at predetermined points, owing to tight time slots.
The show is set to music composed by Stewart Copeland, founder and drummer of The Police, and features some 400 actors, 46 horses, pigeons, birds of prey, galleys and antique buildings.
It is based on the 1950s movie which is taken from the Lew Wallace novel famous for its chariot race.
Further shows are planned in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Milano, Zurich, Lisbon, Gelsenkirchen, Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Manchester.
The current European tour began on 17th September and will run until the end of January 2010.
As of March 2010, further tours are planned for Australia and Europe as well as for North and South America in 2011.
Georg Nork, director of KN Expo Service, said: “The special challenge with Ben Hur Live is to transport the extensive tour material between the venues in often very narrow time slots and in exact sequence with the stage construction works.
“This interesting contract is a great opportunity to demonstrate our attractive integrated customer solutions in the field of events and concerts logistics as our European overland transport network.”
