The IIFA Awards, the celebrity charity match and the IIFA Fashion Show this week have brought in over 75 tonnes of cargo by air and 16 containers by sea. The complete cargo operation was funded by the Sri Lanka-based conglomerate, Aitken Spence.

The cargo comprises of stage fittings, lighting & sound equipment, trussing, LED screens and even cricket equipment of the Bollywood stars for the charity match. A chartered aircraft has been used by the organisers to airlift some of the urgent cargo from Luxembourg.

The logistics operation which is door-to-door from India to Sri Lanka will also cover post event re-export of the materials brought in to Colombo for the three events.

Aitken Spence who was chosen as the official Logistics Partner for IIFA 2010 will fund and provide the total logistics solution for the mega series of events this week. The Company confirmed that the cargo which arrived in different lots during the past week or so has been a challenge.

“The operation was virtually a race against time. We handled close to eight shipments and daily air cargo during a span of about a week; all of which were required to be cleared from the port or the airport and delivered to the designated points in Colombo very quickly”, said Mr. Kavan Aluwihare, Assistant Vice President, Aitken Spence Shipping.

Aitken Spence which