In what can only be described as a mammoth undertaking, more than 400 artworks, ranging from a simple DVD to an installation the size of a car yard, are being moved quietly and brilliantly toward Sydney for this year's extraordinary 17th Biennale of Sydney. This year's event is titled the Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age and nothing could ring truer for the team bestowed with the undertaking of bringing the works to Sydney.

Perceived by many as at odds with the creative world, the minute by minute precision and organisation required to move the precious freight is vitally important to the success of any major exhibition... and triply so for an event as complex as the Biennale of Sydney.

Partner in this year's even is the fine art freight specialists International Art Services, experts in their field and led by Managing Director Kingsley Mundey."This is the kind of logistics challenge we thrive on - we get to use all our knowledge, experience and resources ...and because the Biennale is in Sydney, for once we get to stand back and admire our own work!"

IAS will be moving the works from across the globe to Sydney. From private lenders, museums and commercial galleries pieces will be arriving from 39 cities in 19 countries. Language barriers, time differences and literally mountains of paperwork need to be carefully and painstakingly dealt with, while adhering to the immovable schedule of this important event.

Of course the greatest unknowns are the artists themselves - while promising works will be completed in time and committing to a delivery schedule, a whole string of events has to unravel if the work is in fact not completed in time, or has grown in scale, or requires additional freight care.

For 24 years IAS has specialised in this niche market of international fine arts transportation. During that time they have built strong relationships with counterparts overseas and created a bank of knowledge in regard to how best to  move irreplaceable freight through multi-point transport routes around the globe. It is this experience that has made IAS one of the most engaged logisticians for major exhibitions in Australia and the only company to turn to for the colossal undertaking that is Biennale.

The largest artwork will require four forty foot and two twenty foot sea freight containers. Once landed, it will be carefully maneuvered through the city before being moved by barge to its final destination on Cockatoo Island. Total volume of all freight will be in excess of nine hundred cubic metres - equivalent to sixty art freight trucks. Freight has been moving since  the beginning of March to hit the deadline of the May 12 opening and will take every day and night available.

Starting from August 1, IAS will repeat the feat as no sooner than the months of planning and preparation have culminated in this invigorating Sydney Biennale, it is time to pack up, take down and return the works. Hard work indeed but IAS sees it as another chance to prove they have the Biennale in their blood.