The starting gun for the 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race will be fired on 22nd October, when seven identical racing boats will be leaving the Spanish host city Alicante. The race will follow its longest-ever route, with the boats calling into 12 ports over six continents on their way to the final destination and final race into The Hague, the Dutch capital, in June 2018. By the time they cross the finish line, the racing boats will have crossed four oceans and sailed some 45,000 nautical miles in one of the world's toughest competitions.
The ‘race village' opens in Alicante this week and a host of activities have been organised for the host city, activities that will then follow the race around the world.
At every host city, the Volvo Group will have a pavilion where the public and customers can familiarise themselves with the Group's products and its latest developments in new, innovative technology.
"The Volvo Ocean Race gets enormous media attention all over the world. Millions of fans will follow the adventure, where teams compete against each another under extreme conditions. The host cities give us unique opportunities to build business relationship with our customers, resellers and sales partners. The race gives us a platform to raise awareness of our brand, show off the breadth of our common product offering and demonstrate the Volvo Group's role in modern society," explains Henry Sténson, EVP Group Communication and Sustainability Affairs.
During the race, a series of sustainability seminars will also take place, with the aim of raising awareness of the major problem that is the littering of the oceans, above all the enormous quantities of plastic polluting our seas.
Sténson concludes, "The issue of sustainability permeates the whole race. We want to showcase our strong engagement for a more sustainable society. The Volvo Ocean Race is a fantastic communication platform for raising awareness around the littering of the oceans, which is one of the biggest challenges we face in the field of sustainability today."
Read more about the race here
