case study
2018 SPACEX HYPERLOOP POD COMPETITION
How the delivery of a high-tech, top-secret prototype helped Ireland’s Éirloop win Innovation Award at the final 2018 Hyperloop Pod Competition.
INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY
MODE OF TRANSPORT: AIRFREIGHT
ROUTE: DUBLIN, IRELAND TO HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA
DEADLINE: JULY 6, 2018
THE CLIENT
Éirloop is an engineering team comprised of Irish Universities competing in SpaceX’s 2018 Hyperloop Pod Competition.
THE CHALLENGE
To successfully deliver Éirloop’s time-critical competition prototype during the week of the Fourth of July. Due to the holiday, business hours for most carriers were reduced as the United States celebrated its independence. The other challenge lay in the cargo’s high-risk of damage. If any component of the pod was harmed, the prototype would impair functionality and not be able to compete.
BACKGROUND
In 2015, Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX, announced a Hyperloop Pod Competition challenging college university teams to design and build pods for high-speed tunnels. Spanning three years, student team from around the world came together in 2016 to debut their pod designs and compete to set the standard and showcase their developments in 2017. On Sunday, July 22, 2018 the world witnessed the third installment.
Among the competition, Éirloop, a 40-member team from Dublin City University, and first-year attendees had their eyes set on taking the win back to Ireland; but they faced a difficult challenge – logistics.
THE SERVICE
Working with partner Quality Freight Limited, Green Worldwide Shipping stepped in to transport the 1,500 pound shipment via air, albeit slower than its impending speeds. The shipment faced time-critical obstacles due to holiday business hours surrounding the day before and day of Independence Day; however, the pod was able to clear Customs under Carnet and arrive just in time for the students to receive their pod in California for testing. While Éirloop may have been nervous, Green’s Los Angeles freight experts kept all parties in clear communication and deliver an exceptional shipping experience.
WINNING RESULTS
Éirloop successfully ended the competition in 5thplace. They were one of five teams who passed necessary tests and safety checks to be allowed to run and test their pod. In doing so, they recorded the fastest external subtrack in the history of the competition and took home the Innovation award for successfully building and testing a design that SpaceX had never seen before within the constraints and timeline our client had.
