Editorial comment
Aston Martin’s Head of Race and Trackside Logistics, Franco Massaro, recently revealed how logistics preparations for the 2025 Formula One season started months in advance of the first race, which is scheduled in March 2025. The team faces a 24 race schedule this season, for which personnel and cars travel by air, but much of the equipment is transported by sea, and is already in transit.1
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In order to meet the demands of overseas events, the UK-based team manages six identical sets of equipment, valued at around £2 million each (these consist mainly of garage and hospitality infrastructure rather than car components). Each set includes five 40 ft containers of garage materials and two of hospitality items, weighing a total of 50 – 52 t. Sea freight is a cost-effective solution compared to air freight, particularly for bulky items. By shifting equipment via sea freight, the team saves nearly £250 000 annually. Although this approach requires additional sets of equipment, the costs are recouped within one to two years, as equipment typically lasts five to ten years.
Transporting equipment globally presents several challenges, of course, not least the security risks inherent in using routes such as the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Weather plays its part in the timing of deliveries, and extra time has to be factored in to mitigate any changes in scheduling, including port closures or reroutes.
These issues resonate with the challenges faced by other maritime industries, such as undersea pipelines, which are also vulnerable to deliberate damage and environmental factors. While the Aston Martin team entrusts their equipment to the high seas, the pipeline industry becomes more wary of maritime incidents that threaten subsea assets. Recent incidents have highlighted the vulnerability of undersea infrastructure, including pipelines and cables, to sabotage. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were put out of action by explosions in September 2022. The Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was damaged in October 2023, with investigations pointing to the involvement of a Chinese vessel. More recently, two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish waters in the Baltic sea, and on Christmas Day an underwater power cable between Finland and Estonia was cut. Finnish authorities have seized a ship, believed to be part of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’, and have found evidence that it had been deliberately dragging its anchor for over 60 miles.
These events demonstrate the increasing risks to subsea infrastructure from deliberate acts, often involving vessels operating covertly. The presence of ‘dark ships’ – vessels that turn off their tracking systems to conceal their movements – has been associated with such activities.
Nations and organisations are enhancing surveillance and monitoring of critical undersea installations: NATO has initiated efforts to oversee these infrastructures, emphasising the need for vigilance. The safety of the sea as a domain for laying pipelines and other critical infrastructure is increasingly compromised. Ensuring the security of maritime operations now requires not only adherence to safety protocols but also proactive measures to detect and prevent malicious actions by vessels at sea.
1. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/setting-sail-sea-freight-operation-supporting-our-2025-season-qx7se/
