Shipping to Sepang: How 2026 has tested our sea freight operation more than any other year

Race Team Freight Coordinator Dale Magorrian reveals the logistical challenges the team has faced this season due to cancelled races and the decision to host the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sepang, Malaysia this weekend.

"This has been our busiest year," says Dale Magorrian, as he sits down to take a brief pause from his ultra-packed schedule to bring us up to speed with how we've navigated significant logistical hurdles to fit the rearranged Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia into our sea freight plans.

Due to conflict in the Middle East, both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix earlier in the season were postponed. And, though every attempt was made to reinstate the circuits at later dates in the year, we're now set to refamiliarise ourselves with sweltering Sepang, as it steps in to host the Bahrain Grand Prix on behalf of Sakhir.

Simple sounding enough but, as we chat to Dale, a picture of organisation, rearranging, and overcoming sizeable odds reveals itself. The team sends a vast amount of equipment for our garage and hospitality units trackside by sea, with six identical sets traversing the globe, heading to different racetracks. A considerable challenge in regular circumstances, which has been amplified by several unforeseen changes to the calendar in 2026.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg for him and his team this season.

Return to Malaysia

"We heard a few whispers that we'd be heading to Sepang a matter of days before it was confirmed at the Hungarian Grand Prix. We had some urgent meetings with DHL – F1's freight partner – and we explored all the different avenues for fitting the race into our sea freight schedule.

"We considered diverting our Singapore set, which we had just loaded and shipped from the UK, straight to Malaysia. The idea being after race day in Sepang to truck it overnight to Singapore. But when we got into the finer details, things like customs and a lack of vehicles available, we thought better of it because it looked like it wouldn't get there in time for the Singapore race, even though it's only a four-and-a-half-hour drive.

"We looked at taking one of our European sets to Malaysia, leaving us with just one European set to do the Italian and Spanish Grands Prix, which seemed feasible, but then we heard that it might be possible to rescue trapped sets in Bahrain – there since pre-season testing.

"We figured that was the best way forward but, of course, it's near a conflict zone. Before we did anything, we had to ensure we understood and then followed official guidance for those who would be working in that part of the world. The safety of everyone involved in the process was paramount throughout."

We had to explore everything and find what was best for the team. We needed to eliminate as much risk of delays as possible and, at the same time, factor in cost.

A ghost circuit

"We use six sets of sea freight to transport important equipment for our garage and hospitality units around the world, and one of the sets had been in Bahrain since pre-season testing.

"We built the garage and hospitality for that and, as the race was only going to be a couple of months later, there was an agreement between Formula One Management (FOM) and the circuit that all the teams could leave everything fully built. At the end of pre-season, we left everything, pulled the roller doors down on the garage and assumed we'd be seeing it again in a few weeks for the race. Obviously, the race never went ahead.

"It's been a bit of a ghost circuit. All our equipment's been sat there idle for many months, more months than we would have liked. We've had concerns over some of the electrical equipment, the batteries stored there, stuff like that."

Getting out of Bahrain

"Normally, we have our derig and setup people to oversee unpacking and packing up the set on-site at the racetrack but this wasn't possible in Bahrain.

"Instead, our garage build support contractors offered us and other teams their services to travel to Bahrain to pack the garage and hospitality for us. After some internal discussions and reviewing official guidance for travel, we agreed this would be our best option.

"It was complicated, and time was tight. DHL needed a point of contact for invoices, dangerous good notes, and I had to speak to those in Bahrain several times. They had their own challenges, including a four-hour slot each day where they couldn't work as temperatures were pushing 50°C.

"It was so early in the season that we last saw the set, that some of the equipment we use now has changed since. That was something else we had to establish.

"Mohammed Al-Bastaki, Senior Executive for Events, Activities and Logistics at Bahrain International Circuit, has been on-site in Bahrain liaising with Joe Micklewright, our Race Team Coordinator. He sent through more than 150 pictures of the garage for us prior to the breakdown before heading to Malaysia, so that we could assess what we had and what we didn't.

"We had 24 hours to get the list together, get that equipment packed, and send it in another container from the UK to meet it in Malaysia.

"Meanwhile, from Bahrain, the set was trucked to the south side of the Strait of Hormuz and out of a port there.

"We looked at a port in Oman, but it was a 21-day drive transit time to get there, and so it wasn't going to get to Malaysia quick enough if we did that.

"We looked at chartering a vessel, but it also wasn't going to make it in time. So, DHL found another port. It was very close to Iran, but official guidance said it was in an approved area for travel, and it was still classed as a safe port.

"It left on 24 August and took two weeks, giving us time to unload a fraction earlier than we normally would so we could check things.

"We had to explore everything and find what was best for the team. We needed to eliminate as much risk of delays as possible and, at the same time, factor in costs. But, ultimately, the race in Sepang had been arranged and so we needed to do what we needed to do to get it there."

We'd never exported direct from the EU straight to a flyaway port before, and that carries complications... this year, we're doing it twice.

An impacted year

"Losing one of our six sets for six months has had a knock-on effect this season. Normally, at the last European race of the year – Madrid this year – the set there comes back to base. So, after Madrid, it would have been in the UK for three or four months, being prepared for next year. But now, we've directly shipped from Madrid to Brazil for the São Paulo Grand Prix because there's no time to get it to the UK, service it, and get it to Brazil.

"We'd never exported direct from the EU straight to a flyaway port before, and that carries complications with carnets – an international customs document that acts like a passport for your goods, allowing you to temporarily move items across borders without paying import duties or taxes. This year, we're doing it twice – the Italian Grand Prix set is on its way to Mexico."

Season's end

"Currently, we're set to return to the Middle East at the end of this year with races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, and hopefully both pass without a hitch.

"As of now, our plan is to move the Singapore set to Qatar and we'll move Azerbaijan to Abu Dhabi. We're holding that set in Azerbaijan for as long as we can, just in case things change at the last minute.

"It's been a flat-out year from the first day back in January. We've had the Barcelona shakedown followed by pre-season testing, and then another long season – even if we do end up a race or two short of 24 Grands Prix.

"But we have been able to deal with everything thrown our way. It's caused some sleepless nights, of course, but I really enjoy the job and working out the challenges that come up.

"I'm very logistically minded, and also very proactive – perhaps too much so – but, with this job, you need to work several months ahead.

"In our department, we're very organised, and there's always a plan in the back of our minds should things change. Most of the time, you don't want to action that plan because you know what hard work is going to follow, but we handle everything as well as we can. We always will."

ROUND 16 | BAHRAIN