MSC PAO 04-31
November 22, 2004
For more information, contact:
Marge Holtz or Katie Dunnigan
(202) 685-5055

MSC tankers deliver fuel for DOD

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command moved nearly two billion gallons of fuel for the Department of Defense during fiscal year 2004. Two billion gallons would fill up the Empire State Building seven times.

Fifty ships made a total of 256 voyages for MSC's tanker project office -- delivering fuel for the Defense Energy Support Center, the single fuel provider for the Department of Defense. MSC transports more than 30 percent of the total fuel provided by the DESC, delivering it to stations and depots around the world, including the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station in Antarctica and the Thule Air Base in Greenland.

Most of the fuel was carried by four government-owned, Champion-class tankers. Overall, 75 percent of all tanker voyages were made on U.S.-flag ships.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, MSC has delivered 6.2 billion gallons of fuel to U.S. forces worldwide. In addition, MSC has transported 62 million square feet of combat cargo -- equivalent to more than 650,000 SUVs. If lined up bumper-to-bumper, they would stretch from Washington, D.C., to El Paso, Texas.

MSC operates more than 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish Navy ships at sea, chart ocean bottoms, conduct undersea surveillance, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move 95 percent of military equipment and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces.

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