Combat vehicles shipped to the new Afghanistan Army.

Hundreds of combat vehicles are moving to the new Afghanistan National Army as a result of a load out by the 598th Transportation Group.

These vehicles--in the distinctive camouflage coloring of the Afghanistan force--were moved from Combat Equipment Group-Europe sites in the Netherlands and Luxembourg through Antwerp, Belgium. At dockside, maritime carrier APL prepared the cargo for shipment.

The load out was a joint action of the 598th and the 838th Transportation Battalion, both located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In all, six APL vessels moved the cargo in the period Oct. 10-Nov. 11.

Due to the special requirements of this shipment, this cargo moved under a one-time-only modification to Universal Service Contract 04. APL was awarded the contract for door-to-door service. This is unusual, because vehicles are normally considered break-bulk cargo and such cargo is normally booked pier-to-pier.

The cargo was moved from Brunssum and Vriezenveen, the Netherlands; and Bettembourg and Dudelange, Luxemburg.

"This shipment was an exception to our normal day-to-day cargo booking process," said Anja Terlouw, a 598th traffic management specialist.

"The carrier was responsible for the overall logistics. With overall responsibility for booking it was an interesting challenge for me--booking this cargo to numerous different vessels."

APL received praise from SDDC transporters because of the maritime firm's timely delivery of data regarding in-coming military traffic, cargo loads and vessel arrivals and departures.

The data was necessary to develop accurate cargo activity reports, said Terlouw. At all times in the move, in-transit visibility was maintained on the cargo.

The cooperative spirit of the move among governmental, military and commercial partners was praised by Cris Trejo, an 838th transportation specialist.

"It corroborated the professional relationship that has always existed," said Trejo.

Carrier APL felt the same.

"We have moved large volumes for SDDC under the Universal Services Contract 04 before, but this project was really challenging for us," said Karin Hellemans, APL's Belgium's inside sales and customer service coordinator.

"Once we received the news via APL's Washington Government Group that we were nominated for the project, we immediately started with the necessary preparations and liaised with our network and operations group to make sure everything would run smoothly," said Hellemans.

"Our teams are strongly focused on customer needs and we strive to make these shipments a success by working closely together with the military booking office."

By Martin Weteling, Assistant Command Affairs Officer, 598th Transportation Group