MTMC Commander reports to the CINC. (Industry partnership).

American Auto Logistics, Inc., is exceeding contractual obligations in working with MTMC customers on a major maritime damage incident. Some 165 service members had their vehicles totaled as a result of storm damage Nov. 5 on the American Roll-on Roll-off Carriers' vessel Faust. The following is a note sent Jan. 5 by Maj. Gen. Kenneth L. Privratsky, MTMC Commander, to Gen. Tony Robertson, Commander, U.S. Transportation Command.

Sir:

We've had several press releases on this. Don't know if you've seen any. Thought you would want to know because it represents a great success story for the TRANSCOM team.

In November, American Roll-on Roll-off Carriers' vessel Faust was hit by a massive English Channel storm. In one roll, a U.S. Air Force tug broke free of its shackles and struck the interior side of a diesel oil tank. Ten tons of oil poured out and mined down several levels of decks. MTMC had a big load on the ship, both personal property and privately owned vehicles from the Baltimore Vehicle Processing Center.

We were lucky on the personal property. The wooden containers had small "feet" on them, and the oil only touched the bottom of the containers. We were not so lucky with our privately owned vehicles. Oil dripped on 165 of the vehicles from upper decks.

American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier redirected the ship from France to Bremerhaven, Germany. The vehicles were sent to respective vehicle processing centers all `around Europe, and from there to adjacent car repair shops.

Try as the shops did, they could not get all the oil out of the cars. A car cleaned in the afternoon had pooled oil sitting in the floorboards the next morning. Meanwhile, 15 cars were considered cleaned and were given to their owners.

American Auto Logistics made decisions that exceeded our best hopes. First, due to safety considerations, the contractor decided that all 165 cars would be considered "totaled" and service members would receive the U.S. Blue Book value of the vehicles. This included the 15 lightly damaged cars that initially had been released to their owners. Second, American Auto Logistics extended contract provisions. They waived the $20,000 maximum liability limit. They funded rental cars for up to 30 days following the notification of each vehicle's total loss, or offered $1,000 in lieu of a rental car. In cases where liens on cars were higher than the U.S. Blue Book value, American Auto Logistics is seeking settlement with both the owner and lien holder.

Vehicles that are antiques or restored collector's items will be paid at the appropriate market value.

We estimate that all this will cost the contractor about $3M. That's a big deal. But there's more.

When the Vice President of American Auto Logistics, Bill Antonelli, went overseas to review the situation, he talked to the Overseas Military Car Sales people, and they worked out additional assistance.

Service members who lost cars on the Faust are now eligible for a $750 special discount on a new Ford, General Motors, Chrysler or Honda vehicle, or $500 special discount on a preowned Ford or General Motors vehicle. This comes on top of the firm's promise to pay the U.S. Blue Book value on all totaled vehicles.

All this provides further evidence of what I tried to convey at our recent commanders' conference. This is a model contract and a great industry-U.S. Transportation Command partnership that is helping our servicemen and women. More evidence that you get what you pay for.

Very respectfully, Ken Privratsky