The agreement means that DHL Global Forwarding, the cargo arm of the company, will provide full logistics support for the team's participation at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Support will involve moving over 100 pieces of equipment and kit from Dublin to the pre-Games training camp in Portugal, before transporting the specialist sports equipment to London.

The partnership was announced at DHL's Irish headquarters in St Margaret's, near Dublin Airport.

"DHL Global Forwarding has the network infrastructure to ensure that everything gets to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there to support our elite Paralympic athletes", said Maurice Meade, the managing director of DHL Global Forwarding Ireland.

"We are right behind the Irish team's pursuit of success in London and the whole DHL team is thrilled to be involved."

DHL commits its expertise in international express, air and ocean freight, road and rail transportation, contract logistics and international mail services to its customers.


A global network composed of more than 220 countries and territories and around 275,000 employees worldwide is involved in its operations.

Liam Harbison, the chief executive of Paralympics Ireland and Chef de Mission of the 2012 Irish Paralympic team, said the deal was a huge boost ahead of the Paralympics.

"There's a significant logistical challenge involved in moving a huge amount of athlete equipment from Dublin to Portugal and then on to the Games," he said.

"We're delighted to have the backing of DHL Global Forwarding's expertise – we know that everything will arrive on time and in good order."

Ireland is targeting a team of around 40 athletes across ten sports and has already secured 30 slots in athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, powerlifting, rowing, sailing, shooting and table tennis.

The full team is due to announced on June 28.

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