MTMC tests coordinated crane, rail use at Concord.

For the first time, the Military Traffic Management Command has used its two new cranes at Concord.

The first use of the cranes was also the fist time the 834th Transportation Battalion moved containers directly from ship to rail.

The July 8-18 discharge at Concord was part of Turbo Cads 01, to test the containerized ammunition delivery system.

The Navy began the acquisition effort to obtain the cranes in 1966, said Maj. Felix Boston, Public Affairs Officer, 1397th Transportation Terminal Brigade, Mare Island, Calif. The cranes, built in Argentina, cost $15 million each.

The goal of the exercise was to process containers more efficiently, said Lt. Cdr. Tom LaCoss, one of three Navy officers assigned to the 834th. In the past, containers were handled multiple times, slowing movement.

Previously, stevedores loaded the containers onto tractor-trailers. The trucks hauled the containers to the rail yard, where container-handling tractors loaded them onto railcars.

It was different this time.

A crane operator picked up the containers from the Maersk Alaska and lowered them down to waiting railroad flat cars.

The Maersk Alaska arrived at Concord July 8.

Initial unloading was slow, said LaCoss. Discharging the first set of containers from the top level took as long as eight minutes. As the day progressed, LaCoss said the time improved to a rate of two minutes.

A two-minute movement rate is "very respectable," said Col. Tom E. Thompson, MTMC Chief of Staff.

"Production rates in some ports don't get over 14 an hour," said Thompson. "Industry likes to boast about moving 30 containers an hour--but they're not moving ammunition."

The 834th mission included not just the discharge and receiving, said LaCoss. The big job was getting the containers to 16 final destinations.

That job took a lot of sychronization, said LaCoss. The 837th Transportation Battalion, Pusan, Korea, had to coordinate the loading of the ship to accommodate the unloading to railcars for specific destinations.

Thompson praised the efforts of the two units.

"You guys did a lot of good coordination with the origin from day one," said Thompson.

LaCoss illustrated the stow plan with a detailed chart, which hung on the wall in the briefing room at the 834th headquarters. He said the containers were stowed together by destination.

"Where possible, we are building dedicated trains," said LaCoss. "It may have to wait longer on the ground here, but it will move faster en route."

The goal of the exercise, said LaCoss, was to have the containers rolling out of Concord 24 hours after discharge from the ship.

"For this to work, we have to know exactly what is stowed where so we can get it in the right place," said LaCoss.

Thompson noted the ambition of the plan.

"That's three or four days faster than in the past," said Thompson, of the 24-hour movement plan.

Crews finished discharging the Maersk Alaska on July 19.

Don Dees Public Affairs Specialist MTMC Headquarters