Hope goes up and down at the San Jose Mine near Copiapo, Chile, like the temperature. 

On August 5, a cave-in at a gold and copper mine in the blistering Atacama Desert here blocked the only passageway in and out. Miners lucky enough to escape the disaster wept for 33 of their co-workers, left a half mile below the surface of the earth and presumed lost.

But hope soared when 17 days later a probe shaft drilled by rescue officials located all 33 men safe in a room-sized chamber of the mine. The miners had survived in utter darkness for two and one-half weeks on two teaspoons of tuna fish, a sip of milk and half a biscuit each every 48 hours.

Communication began traveling up and down a single shaft about the diameter a softball. Food, water and oxygen made it down to the survivors, then toothbrushes, cigarettes and fresh clothing. The nation of Chile poured out its support, and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera actively engaged his office in the rescue. NASA advisors gave tips on life in confined environments for extended periods. An enormous diamond-tipped drill that took three days just to assemble began cutting a 26-inch-wide shaft – about the width of a man’s shoulders – through 60 feet of rock a day to reach the men.

Then came hard news. Even with round-the-clock work, plucking the miners from the earth might take as long as four months. Fears for the psychological health of the men set in – these miners have already been trapped underground longer than any others in known history, with weeks still to go before a rescue. Worries persist about sanitary conditions and possible infectious outbreaks in such close confinement.

Then, this past week, hope rose once more. This time UPS played a role. In support of a new rescue design known as Plan B, UPS leaped into action following a request from the Chilean embassy in Washington, D.C. UPS arranged for the transport of special new drilling equipment to Copiapo, four drills that may allow the miners to be freed in 60 days – half the time originally projected.

The Chilean embassy contacted UPS’s Public Affairs office in Washington just before Labor Day with the request to move the drills and corresponding support equipment from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Copiapo. The embassy and UPS have had a close and collaborative relationship since working closely to pass the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement a few years ago.

“When we faced a challenge, we instantly thought of UPS based on previous positive experiences,” said Ambassador Fermandois. “We didn’t have time for a complex series of decisions – we went with our UPS friends and partners.”

UPS’s humanitarian role

Chip Chappelle serves as Humanitarian Supply Chain Logistics Director. He coordinated a complex set of arrangements for the Copiapo shipment.

Here’s an overview of the shipping process Chip helped orchestrate:

The initial request for the mission came from Public Affairs on Thursday, September 2. Within a day, a UPS solution had been developed. “Leadership, alternative design, customer engagement and execution coordination was provided by many individuals,” Chip said.

The Chilean government found this particular rescue equipment for Plan B at Castle Rock, a company located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The total load weight of 26,500 pounds required some creative planning when it came to cost-effective transport.

“They originally wanted to ship these drills in an ocean container that would be put on board an aircraft – a really expensive way to do it,” Chip says. “We suggested that we move the total shipment in several pieces, and that turned out to be the best solution.”

On Wednesday, September 8, a two-driver tractor trailer team rolled onto the Castle Rock facility, loaded the machinery, and drove it straight through the night to Miami, where Chilean airline, LAN Chile Cargo received them. UPS contracts with LAN Chile  to fly shipments to Chile. On Friday, September 10, a LAN Chile flight left Miami for Santiago, Chile, where UPS de Chile 3rd party carrier trucks met it and took the load. The next day at noon, the UPS Chile trucks reached Copiapo after driving 839 kilometers (about 500 miles).

Chip also coordinated a second UPS shipment, this time for 530 pounds of equipment that would help rescue workers remove a broken piece of drilling machinery in one of the rescue shafts. The pickup request came Friday afternoon. On Saturday, a 3rd party carrier picked the equipment up Bethlehem and trucked to UPS Worldport in Louisville, KY, On Sunday, a UPS “browntail” aircraft flew the shipment to Miami, where UPS Miami Air Cargo recovered. UPS CSI then trucked the shipment to LAN Chile, to connect with a Monday LAN Chile flight to Santiago.

“It’s what we do, configuring our services to meet the needs of our customers,” Chip said. “That’s true whether it’s routine work or emergency work. Whatever is physically possible in the world for shipping, we can do it or contract it and get it to the people who need it.”

UPS shipped the drilling equipment under designation as a humanitarian mission, an in-kind charitable gift funded by the UPS Foundation.  

UPS stands ready to spring into action when the world needs relief supplies. In recent years, UPS has supported recovery efforts in China, Myanmar, Indonesia and Republic of the Philippines. Our company has transported food and aid to Haiti, after the terrible earthquake there. UPS also recently shipped tents and supplies to refugees displaced by flooding in Pakistan.

“When disaster occurs,” said Ed Martinez, Director of Philanthropy and Corporate Relations for The UPS Foundation, “the biggest challenge facing the entire global community – governments, relief agencies, recovery teams, and everyone else – is logistics. Logistics is central to rescuing people, safeguarding people, bringing in urgent supplies, the whole recovery process. And logistics is who we are.

“That’s why we have embraced logistics support as the most important way we can give back to our communities and, incidentally, support UPSers who live and work in more than 200 countries. We are in a unique position to use our know-how in technology and transportation to give back to devastated communities in ways that others simply cannot.”

Rescue hopes run high once again now, with the arrival of Plan B equipment in Copiapo. Still, the hard work to reach the miners continues. To help them endure the endless hours, rescue teams continue to pass small parcels containing food, information and creature comforts down the drill shafts. With UPS’s new involvement in this ongoing drama, it will be no surprise if more and more UPSers are moved to send prayers and messages of encouragement to the trapped miners, their families, and the rescue teams.

The spirits of the 33 miners certainly seem to be in the right place.

On September 14, the wife of one of the men trapped underground for the past six weeks gave birth to a little girl.

The father asked that his new daughter be named Esperanza – that’s the Spanish word for hope.

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