#ship - A giant cargo ship carrying the spectacular Volvo Ocean Race spectator village – packed into 70 ready to assemble crates - will arrive in Galway Port in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The high tech "pop up" village, one of two which have accompanied the race across the globe, is currently on its way from Lisbon in Portugal on board the Dutch registered heavy lift ocean freighter "Deo Volente".
The duplicate villages are the biggest travelling sporting arenas of their kind in the world and have welcomed millions of visitors as they made their way from stopover port to stop over port across the globe.
During the course of the 39,000 mile race the two villages have leap-frogged ahead of the Volvo racing fleet in a series of tightly timed logistical operations. Described as the Everest of logistics, this kit set village has been assembled and dismantled by teams of specialist construction workers at each stopover port along the race route.
Galway's Race Village, a network of colourful pavilions will be erected on the dockside and across the harbour area making it a "must visit" meeting point for those wishing to experience the excitement of the Volvo Ocean Race finale.
Each of the participating teams will welcome visitors to their individual pavilions and according to race sponsors Volvo, will attempt to bring fans closer than ever before to the most dramatic action of the 2011-2012 race.
Micheline McNamara, CEO Lets do it Global said,
"Anyone who visited Galway during the 2009 race stop over will be familiar with the excitement and the impact the dramatic dockside village created. The 2012 Race Village will be many times bigger and will be "the beating heart" of the nine day festival on the waterfront.
For the first time ever the Formula One style team zones are being opened to the public allowing fans to watch and to meet master boat builders and design experts at work and to experience at first hand the excitement of round the world sailing.
The Galway Race village will also include a 90 seater cinema which will show the first ever 3D footage of the race; a carbon fibre simulator which creates hair raising rides inside a model of a Volvo ocean racing yacht and a sailing academy which will be aimed especially at young and aspiring sailors.
Volvo estimates that up to four million people will have visited the various race villages across the globe during the nine months of the round the world race.
The cargo ship "Deo Volente" with the Galway Race Village on board is due to dock in the Harbour at about 4 am on Tuesday morning. A team of 60 specialist construction workers will be involved in the task of assembling the village.
Galway Harbour Master Capt Brian Sheridan said the arrival of the container ship – the first the port has ever had to handle - is part of "the unfolding jigsaw that is the Volvo Ocean Race", and will create huge excitement as the village emerges from its containers and transforms the dockside into a gigantic sports and entertainment arena.
Volvo Ocean Race Project Director Reinier Vens, said "Everybody who has worked on the construction and the running of the various race villages around the world cannot wait to get to Galway. The support and cooperation from the city and the port has been fantastic and we can't wait to get started."
