Designing and building luxury items is not an easy business.
The time, effort and money that can be put into any single project can be
absolutely exhausting. So, it takes little effort to fathom the pain and
frustration of designers and customers who discover defects caused by improper
handling and storage. 

In the 10 years that the Ateam has been working with high
end designers and clients – we have heard our fair share of horror stories.
Clients often come to us looking for a new logistics partner after their last
provider left meter-long scratches and crater-like dents in their handcrafted
artisanal furniture. At first, hearing stories like these would surprise us,
‘surely the duty of care in our industry is better than this’ we would think to
ourselves. 

However, with experience comes wisdom and in hindsight it
should be of little surprise that people with little understanding of craftsmanship
don’t quite comprehend the value of the items that they are handling. 

We believe by embedding our deep understanding and experience of working with luxurious items in every stage of the logistics cycle we can help alleviate the stresses of relocating and storing priceless goods.

Three forty-foot shipping containers full of luxurious furniture were received at our Sydney depot after liaising with international exporters. Each item was individually quality checked by our team and inspected by designers before a final plan for delivery was made. It was found that all but three of the items could be delivered to the eleventh-floor apartment through the buildings service elevator. For the three oversized items, a crane was organised to lift the items up to the balcony. This required a strenuous 3-week approval process from the opera house, NSW police and City of Sydney council. Once completed, the oversized items were successfully lifted into the apartment by a 65-tonne crane.

The process required the temporary closure of Macquarie street by police and traffic controllers and our team’s professionalism was vital in maintaining operational efficiency.

It took ten men to carry the items in from the balcony but in the end the team persevered to the delight and admiration of the designer; who was especially appreciative seeing as how slim the chances of approval were.