SDDC sidesteps Hurricane Ivan.Hurricane Ivan kept the USNS USNS United States Naval Ship (civilian-manned; in service)USNS United States Navy Seals Watkins in port for a few extra days, but it did not deter the Port of Beaumont's first shipment of cargo for Operation Iraqi Freedom III. Originally scheduled to depart Sept. 12, the Watkins finally sailed Sept. 18 from the Texas port. The hurricane made landfall Sept. 16 on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. As the Military Sealift Command A major command of the US Navy, and the US Transportation Command's component command responsible for designated common-user sealift transportation services to deploy, employ, sustain, and redeploy US forces on a global basis. Also called MSC. See also transportation component command. ship waited out the storm, cargo continued to roll into ports. Once the storm passed, the Watkins was diverted to Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi is a coastal city and the county seat of Nueces CountyGR6 in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the region known as South Texas. , to pick up more cargo before sailing for Southwest Asia. Watkins first arrived in Beaumont Sept. 7. Members of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command's 842nd Transportation Battalion immediately began a simultaneous discharge-and reloading Reloading A term lenders commonly use to refer to the habits of borrowers taking out loans to repay the balance on other loans. Often reloading is done to take advantage of lower interest rates offered by other loans, and potential tax benefits. . "This is another example of how the team works," said Lt. Cmdr. John Williams, 842nd deputy commander. "We use our resources in the most efficient way possible." To "Team Beaumont" this is just another day in the long stream of shipments. All equipment has a location allocated for it before it arrives at the port. The equipment is staged in the proper lots to make sure the proper equipment is loaded on the correct ship. Williams said it took the team 21 hours to unload the ship and 19 hours to load the 700 pieces of equipment headed for Operation Iraq Freedom. The USNS Watkins is 950-feet long and can carry 393,000 square feet of cargo. "Staging is essential to proper distribution of the equipment," said Williams. "We pride ourselves in a 30-day turnaround for our shipments and our teamwork makes this happen." With the departure of the Watkins, the Beaumont unit is looking ahead to more Operation Iraqi Freedom III cargoes. Since the beginning of OIF OIF Operation Iraqi Freedom OIF Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (French: International Organization of Francophonie) OIF Office for Intellectual Freedom (American Library Association) and Operation Enduring Freedom, the members of the terminal port unit have moved an incredible 10.7-million-square-feet of military equipment. "Team Beaumont has already been to the Super Bowl with OIF II," said Williams. "We are on our way to our second Super Bowl." An absolutely essential element to the team effort, said Williams, is Army Reservists with the 1192nd Transportation Terminal Brigade, of New Orleans. Other key players include the port of Beaumont The Port of Beaumont is a deep-water port located in Beaumont, Texas. It claims to rank as the fourth largest in the United States and the thirty-fourth largest in the world in terms of tonnage. It also claims to be the busiest military port in the U.S. , Military Sealift Command, Department of Agriculture, Port Support Activity and stevedores. LaWanda York, Public Affairs Specialist SDDC SDDC Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (formerly Military Traffic Management Command) SDDC Single Data Device Correction Headquarters |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion