Staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games is one of the largest and most complex operations that exist, and the sheer scale of the project has been illustrated by the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and the Brazilian Post Office, which is the official logistics operator of the Games. More than 30 million items will need to be transported in order to stage the largest sports event in South America for the first time.

To prepare the venues that will host about 15,000 athletes from 205 countries next year, a mind-boggling array of items will need to be delivered, including: 980,000 pieces of sports equipment, 120,000 seats, 30,000 beds and mattresses, 25,000 tables, 18,000 sofas, 36,000 items of athletes’ luggage, 8,600 anti-doping samples, and 300km of barriers.

The total storage area required will be 100 square metres – the equivalent to 12 Maracanã Stadiums – and will be divided into three warehouses. The Brazilian Post Office (known as Correios) will employ more than 2,000 people in the logistics operation. Approximately 170 trucks will be used, along with 2,000 pieces of handling equipment, such as shelving, forklifts, tractors and cranes. In total, there will be approximately 200 vehicles, which will travel 1.2 million km.

Correios, a government-owned company that was selected in an international tender process, will repeat the role it fulfilled at the Rio 2007 Pan American Games, where it was responsible for all shipping and assembly. The company is also sponsoring a programme aimed at helping Brazil reach the top 10 of the Olympic Games medals table and the top five of the Paralympic Games medals table.