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 he Sealift Program provides marine transportation to the Department of Defense in peace, contingency and war, carrying combat equipment and supplies to locations around the world and providing surge shipping of these assets when required. The program also provides ocean transport for humanitarian and peacekeeping missions.
The Sealift Program's Tanker and Cargo Project Offices employ a diverse fleet of chartered ships: tankers, roll-on/roll-off ships, combination ships (roll-on/roll-off/container/breakbulk), container ships, heavy-lift ships, tugs and barges.
The Surge Sealift Project office maintains its fleet of government-owned Fast Sealift Ships and large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, or LMSRs, in a high state of readiness for contingencies and war, employing commercial contractors to maintain and crew the ships and provide layberths where the ships wait until needed.
The Sealift Program also maintains a close working relationship with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration, owners and operators of the Ready Reserve Force. When activated, MSC assumes operational control of RRF ships.
The Tanker Project Office is responsible for ocean transportation of Department of Defense petroleum products worldwide for the Defense Logistics Agency's Defense Energy Support Center.
| The tanker fleet maintained an impressive record of zero fuel spills in FY 2001. |
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In FY 2001, six long-term contract tankers and 57 voyage-chartered vessels provided 215 lifts, delivering almost 1.62 billion gallons of petroleum products to DOD facilities around the world.
MSC tankers lifted specialized fuel to the Antarctic for the National Science Foundation; fuel for the Pacific Islands, Okinawa and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and fuel oil in support of the MSC prepositioning ships at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Throughout FY 2001, the tanker fleet maintained an impressive record of zero fuel spills.
Fleet Composition
At the heart of the MSC-controlled tanker fleet are the T-5 tankers. Built in 1985, these five 237,000 barrel tankers have double hulls and advanced-technology safety systems. They also are ice strengthened. Additionally, two of the T-5s are equipped with modular fuel delivery systems that allow them to participate in at-sea replenishment exercises, refueling naval combatants. These tankers are under a 20-year charter to MSC that expires in 2005.
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| MSC tanker MV Lawrence H. Gianella approaches
the ice pier at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
Photo by Bill Haals. |
Shallow-draft Shuttle
MV Montauk, a T-1 chartered tanker, provided shuttle service between suppliers and shallow-draft depots in South Korea and Japan for the Defense Energy Support Center in FY 2001, completing more than 25 voyages.
Ice Missions
MV Lawrence H. Gianella re-supplied McMurdo Station in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze as a service to the National Science Foundation. Chartered tanker MV Mar and T-5 tanker MV Paul Buck carried fuel in support of Operation Pacer Goose, the annual re-supply of Thule Air Base, Greenland.
 | Fuel hoses at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, snake away from Gianella as the ship off-loads fuel at the ice pier, which is indeed made of ice. Photo by Bill Haals. |
The Cargo Project Office is responsible for the ocean transport of all DOD dry cargo other than cargoes carried by regularly scheduled commercial liner services. The office manages long- and short-term time charters and voyage charters and assigns surge and Ready Reserve Force ships as needed to meet mission requirements.
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| USS Cole sits on MV Blue Marlin's deck as the two ships ready for their transit around the tip of Africa and across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. Photo by Sgt. Bill Maes, USMC. |
Long-term charters
In FY 2001, six long-term charters met unique missions that liner services could not provide. Breakbulk ships carried supplies and equipment to Diego Garcia; ice-strengthened ships supported the U.S. Air Force at Thule Air Base, Greenland, and the National Science Foundation at McMurdo, Antarctica; a combination ship moved ammunition throughout the Pacific; a Jones Act ship, required for U.S. port-to-port voyages, supported the Hawaiian Islands and U.S. territories in the Mid-Pacific; and a tug/barge and a small supply ship supported DOD missions in the Caribbean.
| The MSC chartering team received a Secretary of the Navy Competition and Procurement Excellence Award for their efforts. |
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Heavy lift float-on/float-off operations
When USS Cole was bombed by terrorists while fueling at Aden Harbor, Yemen, in October 2000, Cargo Project Office representatives chartered MV Blue Marlin, which had recently lifted two MCH-17 coastal mine hunters from Texas to Bahrain. Completing contract negotiations in a record 72 hours, MSC representatives arranged for the commercial heavy-lift ship to load USS Cole on Oct. 30 and deliver her to the United States by Dec. 12.
The MSC chartering team received a Secretary of the Navy Competition and Procurement Excellence Award for their efforts.
The Surge Project Office is responsible for MSC’s Fast Sealift Ships and large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, or LMSRs, maintained in reduced operating status. These ships, strategically located near major Army loading ports, are ready to respond to the initial need for surge shipping expected at the onset of a contingency. The Surge Project Office also is MSC’s conduit to the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Force, the other portion of surge sealift.
Fast Sealift Ships
MSC’s eight FSS are maintained in reduced operating status, capable of being activated and ready to sail to a loading port in four days. Commercial ship operators under contract to MSC operate and maintain these 946-foot-long, 27-knot-capable ships at layberths near Jacksonville, Fla.; Norfolk, Va.; Staten Island, N.Y.; and New Orleans. The ship at Norfolk does double duty as a training platform for U.S. Army cargo-handling students from Fort Eustis, Va.
The ships are capable of loading up to 150,000 square feet of heavy military cargo each. Unlike most roll-on/roll-off ships, FSS are equipped with large pedestal cranes that can be operated singly or in pairs,
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| Aboard MSC's Fast Sealift Ship USNS Regulus, Jose Hernandez (center), afloat training team leader, explains shipboard fire-fighting concepts and techniques. Photo by Bill Cook. |
making them self-sustaining in undeveloped ports and capable of discharging their cargo at anchorage during a logistics-over-the-shore operation.
LMSRs
Three LMSRs – USNS Mendonca, USNS Pililaau and USNS Gilliland – joined the surge fleet in FY 2001, bringing the current total to eight. By 2003, MSC will have an 11-ship LMSR surge force.
As wide and long as the FSS, LMSRs carry almost twice the cargo because of the hull design and number of decks. Pedestal cranes and both side and stern ramps mean that the LMSR is ideally suited for undeveloped ports or logistics-over-the-shore operations.
Like the FSS, surge LMSRs are berthed on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts.
Ready Reserve Force
The RRF, which at the end of FY 2001 comprised 76 militarily useful government-owned merchant ships, is operated and maintained by commercial ship managers under contract to the U.S. Maritime Administration. The ships can be activated in four, five, 10 or 20 days. When activated, RRF ships come under MSC's operational control.
MSC representatives routinely visit each of the ships, evaluating readiness, observing sea and dock trials and working with Maritime Administration personnel, ship managers and shipboard personnel on maintenance actions.
No-notice ship activation by the U.S. Transportation Command tests RRF readiness. About 15 percent of the RRF was activated for exercises in FY 2001.
 | LEFT: Cargo afloat rig team personnel on board Ready Reserve Force breakbulk ship MV Cape Girardeau send a pallet of cargo to aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of Hawaii. Photo by Ann Walling. |
| RIGHT: Cargo afloat rig team personnel prepare the winches aboard MV Cape Girardeau to transfer equipment prior to conducting underway replenishment operations with USS Abraham Lincoln. Photo by Ann Walling. |  |
Ready Reserve Force Ships - 76 ships
(as of Sept. 30, 2001)
31 Roll-on/roll-off ships
15 Breakbulk ships*
10 Auxiliary crane ships*
5 Tankers
4 Offshore petroleum discharge system ships*
4 LASH (lighter aboard ship) vessels
3 Seabee vessels
2 Aviation support ships**
2 Troop ships
* One breakbulk ship, one auxiliary crane ship and two offshore petroleum discharge system ships are active and prepositioned at sea.
** In reduced operating status for the Prepositioning Program.
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