eChampion: DHL's Deputy Motorsports MD Pier Luigi Ferrari

His name is synonymous with motorsport and fittingly this is the environment that Pier Luigi Ferrari has spent half of his life working in. As DHL's Deputy Motorsports MD, one of Pier Luigi's core responsibilities is to ensure that the Formula E racing cars are delivered on time to the circuits around the world.

Pier Luigi Ferrari - no relation to the legendary automaker - has been involved in motorsport for more than 30 years and has pretty much seen it all. Even with all those years of experience and his expert knowledge of the complex world of logistics, the task of coordinating the logistics operation behind the FIA Formula E Championship still presented the 60-year-old with fresh challenges.

Shipping high performance lithium batteries and 200 tons of equipment to each race is no easy feat and has required innovative, pioneering sustainable logistics solutions to be put in place. After almost two seasons, we can say, mission accomplished with flying colors!

You wouldn't expect anything less from Pier Luigi. He's always cool and relaxed despite the stresses of his job. Pier Luigi travels around the world for more than 250 days a year, organizing the logistics of Formula 1 and Formula E for DHL. No wonder his cell phone is always ringing!

Pier Luigi is passionate about motorsport and a big fan but he never tires of doing a great job time after time. "You need to be very passionate about motor racing to do my job," said Pier Luigi. "That's also how you motivate co-workers, who travel around the world, far away from their families. I think that's the biggest challenge."

Formula E is also breaking new ground where transport is concerned. Sustainability and environmental protection are clearly at the forefront - shared values that DHL as logistics partner fully support. Working closely alongside Formula E's management team has certainly been one of the keys to success.

"Formula E consulted us from the very beginning and involved us in planning the race calendar", said Pier Luigi. "This allowed us to provide advice, such as not traveling back and forth between continents and instead concentrating the races in individual regions to reduce the overall number of kilometers travelled."

Formula E consulted us from the very beginning and involved us in planning the race calendar.

Pier Luigi Ferrari

From Asia to South America to the United States  and finally Europe, Formula E has implemented a race calendar that minimizes the environmental impact of the season's global footprint. To further minimize pollution, the 36 race cars are transported around the world with a multi-modal approach, including sea, truck and rail, and all in specially made containers for optimized load-capacity to ensure maximum efficiency. "We need to be flexible, because we transport the boxes by truck, train, ship and airplane," said Pier Luigi. "It's like a big jigsaw puzzle, and it's only complete once every single piece, no matter how small, is in its place". As they say: Great is in the detail!

Once the checkered flag waves, the  logistics race starts once again. DHL and the participating teams set to work immediately after the drivers leave the podium, putting cars and equipment back in their special containers. "In some cities, we collect materials the very same evening with only a short window from midnight to six in the morning to get things moved," said Pier Luigi.

Once the last item has been packed and collected, there's no stopping for Pier Luigi - the next race is already waiting and the Formula E story continues!