Guardians,
I just returned from a meeting at US Northern Command in Colorado Springs. The meeting was hosted by General Gene Renuart and included General Duncan McNabb (Commander, US Transportation Command), David Matsuda (MARAD Administrator), and representatives of the shipping community. We engaged in a half day meeting on the current state of preparedness and resiliency of our ports and the economic implications of a port closure. It was an open and frank discussion that will mark the way for further meetings.
In the Coast Guard we have been evolving the concept of Maritime Transportation System Recovery for some time. We gained huge experience following Hurricane Katrina when we established a Maritime Transportation Recovery Unit under the leadership of RADM Larry Hereth in St. Louis. This group coordinated the recovery of all Gulf Coast ports and involved stakeholders to determine priorities and provide recommendations to field commanders. That concept has been refined in subsequent hurricane recovery efforts and in the current oil spill response in Port Arthur, TX. We have actually imported that competency to assist in the reopening of the port of Port Au Prince and other ports in Haiti. The following guest post details our efforts.
ADM A
Guest Blog by LCDR Mark Shepard, USCG MTSRAT on board CGC OAK
in Port Au Prince, Haiti
The earthquake in Haiti rocked the ports in the Bay of Port au Prince, destroyed much of the shore-side infrastructure, and significantly disrupted the government agencies with maritime transportation responsibilities. Every Haitian has been significantly impacted by this catastrophe. All of the Haitian Port Authority and Customs Officials, Pilots, Agents, Labor, and Vessel and Facility Operators have been very helpful while dealing with their own personal tragedies/impacts from the earthquake and aftershocks.
The Marine Transportation System Recovery Assist Team (MTSRAT) was deployed to assist the Haitian people with the restoration of the Maritime Transportation System. The team arrived on January 18th, and immediately began operations to assess the capability of the ports and their intermodal connections within the Bay of Port Au Prince. Upon arrival the MTSRAT rendezvoused with the DOD components, Haitian authorities and Haitian businesses to begin the process of reopening the port facilities. Within a couple of days of arrival the MTSRAT was chopped to SOUTHCOM under the TACON of Commander Task Force 42.
The MTSRAT is currently engaged in the soft tasks of working inter-personal relationships with military, government, public, and private industry, and the hard tasks of verifying capabilities, capacities, prioritizing operations, and managing offshore traffic. The message to the world shipping industry is that the port facilities are open for business with limited capacity. In the days since the earthquake the port has been able to receive several vessels with humanitarian cargos, commercial cargos and military cargos. The first container barge to arrive after the earthquake conducted cargo operations on January 19th, the first tank ship arrived January 24th and is replenishing a critically short supply of propane today. The military has arrived and the port has been modified with a Roll-On/Roll-Off ramp to be able to accommodate military cargo. Prioritizing humanitarian aid, commercial cargo and military cargo are important for ensuring that no-one function takes over the port infrastructure or causes further damage that would cause the infrastructure to further collapse.
The challenge for the Maritime Infrastructure now is that despite being open for business the local infrastructure (personnel, roads, warehouses, supermarkets, labor, chassis, trucks, etc.) are so severely damaged that the capacity to receive the cargo into the port and distribute beyond the port is limited. In the coming days there is potential for the port to reach real estate capacity. We will continue to work with Haiti's inter-modal partners and the international relief efforts to ensure an efficient system as possible under the current conditions.
Bottom-line...Humanitarian aid is being delivered to the port and further distributed to the Haitian people!
The MTSRAT is currently attached to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter OAK in Port au Prince Harbor and conducts daytime missions into Port au Prince and the surrounding areas.
The MTSRAT consists of 11 personnel under the direction of Captain John Little (Deputy Sector Hampton Roads). The members of the team are: CDR Wayne Clayborne (1st District), LCDR Mike Pierno (LANT IPSLO to Haiti), LCDR Mark Gibbs (Sector Jacksonville), LCDR Mark Shepard (Gulf Strike Team), LT Brian Sadler (Sector Buffalo), MSTC Bridgette Brown (Atlantic Strike Team), MST1 Steve Wilkes (Gulf Strike Team), MST3 Juan Patino (Gulf Strike Team), Mr. Fritz Wasco (9th District), and Mr. Carl N Hatfiled (Sector Lower Mississippi River).
The MTSRAT would like to thank the Captain and crew of the CGC OAK for their exceptional assistance with every aspect of living and working in Haiti...Their support and willingness to assist has been truly spectacular!
MTSRU Haiti on CCG OAK
US Coast Guard
CAPT John Little
CDR Wayne Clayborne
LCDR Mark Shepard
