# DHL backs expedition searching for Amelia Earhart’s missing aircraft

- **Source:** https://pelavox.com/dhl-backs-expedition-searching-for-amelia-earharts-missing-aircraft/
- **Publisher:** pelavox. (The voice of shipping)
- **Author:** pelavox. Newsroom
- **Published:** 2026-10-06T14:45:28+00:00
- **Updated:** 2026-10-06T14:45:28+00:00
- **Section:** Logistics
- **Type:** News
- **Topics:** DHL

DHL is providing logistics support for a new expedition to the remote Pacific island of Nikumaroro, where researchers plan to investigate a submerged object that could be linked to Amelia Earhart’s missing aircraft.

The company has been named Official Logistics Partner of the Taraia Object Expedition and is transporting more than 1,650 pounds of specialist equipment and supplies to Kiribati. Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute are among the partners leading the expedition.

Researchers will travel to Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands, to examine the so-called Taraia Object, a visual anomaly identified in the island’s lagoon. The expedition team believes the object could potentially be wreckage from Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10-E, although this has not been established.

Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, while flying from Lae, New Guinea, towards Howland Island during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Her aircraft has never been definitively located.

## Specialist equipment shipped to Kiribati

DHL is handling three shipments containing 33 boxes, bags and tubs with more than 100 individual items.

The equipment is being transported from Eugene, Oregon, and Pensacola, Florida, to Bonriki International Airport in Tarawa, Kiribati.

Cargo includes underwater drones, side-scan sonar, magnetometers, diving equipment, GPS and navigation systems, solar panels, communications technology, environmental monitoring equipment and other field supplies.

DHL teams worked with the expedition to prepare and inspect the cargo, including equipment containing lithium batteries and other components subject to specific transport requirements.

The logistics operation combines DHL-operated and commercial flights through the United States and onwards to Tarawa, involving teams in Los Angeles and across the company’s Americas and Asia-Pacific network.

From Tarawa, the expedition team is expected to continue by sea to Nikumaroro with the equipment required for operations on the island.

## Search to focus on Taraia Object

Once at Nikumaroro, researchers plan to use remote sensing technology, magnetometers, sonar and underwater excavation to examine the Taraia Object and search the surrounding area for further evidence.

“Nearly 90 years after Amelia Earhart’s plane disappeared, researchers are still working to find answers,” said Greg Hewitt, CEO of DHL Express U.S.

He said DHL’s role is to transport the technology and specialist equipment required for the expedition to its remote destination.

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Cite as: "DHL backs expedition searching for Amelia Earhart’s missing aircraft", pelavox., 6 October 2026, https://pelavox.com/dhl-backs-expedition-searching-for-amelia-earharts-missing-aircraft/