Contractor cleaning eases POV moves from Europe.

Department of Defense service members based in Europe are getting a break when they ship their vehicles back home.

Service members now have their vehicles steam cleaned at no charge by American Auto Logistics, Inc., the prime contractor for the global, privately owned vehicle shipment program and its subcontractor, Transcar.

The cleaning program, which began April 2, will assist service members in meeting the stringent shipping requirements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In essence, the contractor is accepting all responsibility for shipping vehicles that pass Department of Agriculture requirements, said Bill Antonelli, who is Vice President of American Auto Logistics, Inc.

The cleaning process will save service members the frustrations of a failed inspection, along with commercial cleaning costs that vary from $80-$150 per vehicle, he said.

"This is a tremendous cost savings to the service member," said Antonelli. "We are delighted to expand our contract's range to include this service."

An estimated 17,000 vehicles are returned annually from Europe for service members.

"Collectively, we will save service members $1.5 million every year."

Service members are still required to turn in a clean vehicle, to include vacuuming the interior.

American Auto Logistics plans to conduct the cleaning and inspection of the majority of service-member vehicles at the port of Bremerhaven, Germany. The firm will consolidate vehicles shipped from 13 centers in Germany, Belgium and Northern Italy.

"At 10 other sites in the United Kingdom, Turkey, Spain and Naples, Italy, vehicles will be cleaned and inspected at the service centers themselves at contractor expense," said Antonelli.

The stringent inspections are designed to reduce the possibility of transmitting non-native insects and disease to the United States. For a vehicle to pass inspection, steam cleaning is necessary to remove dirt and debris from inaccessible areas of the vehicle's undercarriage.

Rejection rates for vehicles without professional cleaning have been as high as 96 percent at the Schweinfurt Vehicle Processing Center.

"We are eliminating the wasted time, frustration and cost for service members," said Antonelli."

The cleaning process that American Auto Logistics is performing is not related to the foot-and-mouth disease reported among farm animals in some portions of Europe.

Transcar is also performing an additional disinfectant process, over and above the initial cleaning, to ensure the Department of Agriculture requirements for foot-and-mouth disease are satisfied. This all takes place prior to any vehicle departing Europe.

The new policy was welcomed by Col. Nonie Cabana, MTMC's Deputy Chief of Staff for Passenger & Personal Property.

"This is truly a Quality of Life initiative," said Cabana. "This supports individual service members in a critical area.

"This is top support for Department of Defense service members."

American Auto Logistics, Inc., ships an estimated 75,000 vehicles every year for the Military Traffic Management Command.