Forty life-sized fibreglass pigs bound for Waterford have been detained at Rotterdam for a fortnight by Dutch customs officers.
The pigs, which are part of a series of fringe events surrounding next month's Waterford International Festival of Light Opera, are to be used to promote local businesses and attract visitors.
However, organisers of the Light Opera Arts Trail entitled "And Pigs Will Fly" must now be wishing they had got the 40 beasts to fly rather than shipping them from Asia.
The pigs left Singapore over five weeks ago and were meant to arrive in Waterford on August 2nd.
However, the 40-foot container with the pigs inside was held at Rotterdam when the customs officials realised what it contained.
The fibreglass animals had to be taken from the container and individually scanned to ensure they contained nothing suspicious.
Publican Mr Jim Gordon, who organised the event with local artist Ms Emer Powell, acknowledged it was "a bit suspicious and I suppose the customs officers wondered why anyone would want 40 life-size fibreglass pigs, and of course they were being shipped from Asia which further fuelled their suspicions.
"However, the only reason we chose Singapore was the fact it was the closest source for reasonably priced pigs."
After two weeks of frantic phone calls the pigs were expected to arrive safely in the next few days.
They will be decorated by artists Ruth Ahearne and Maeve Tumelty.
Thirty-two of the 40 pigs have already been snapped up at a cost of €500 each and will now be rebranded to their new owner's specifications.
The 40 pigs will be on display on Waterford's streets next month, after which they will be used by the businesses in promotions or auctioned off for local charities.