Flickertail aids Marines in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

By Gillian M. Brigham

MSC-operated crane ship SS Flickertail State off-loads her cargo in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 11. John Gregov photo

When President Bush sent 1,600 U.S. Marines to Haiti to quell the bloody uprising that prompted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's resignation on February 29, SS Flickertail State, part of the U.S. Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Force and under the operational control of Military Sealift Command, was not far behind.

Flickertail State, fresh from participating in New Horizons, a joint logistics over-the-shore military exercise providing humanitarian relief to Honduras, was in port in Norfolk, Va., for a mere twenty-four hours before she was again called to duty.

"Flickertail was in an opportune position for this lift, having just come back from South America," said John Gregov, MSC's Port Canaveral representative who accompanied Flickertail on her trek to Haiti. "She was all ready to go."

The crane ship sailed from Norfolk to Morehead City, N.C., to pick up 12,000 square feet of Marine Corps support equipment, and left North Carolina for Haiti on March 7. The ship's 600-ton load consisted of humvees, medical supplies, crates of bottled water and two reverse osmosis water purification systems. Reverse osmosis machines are designed to purify contaminated water into water that is suitable for drinking — something for which the Marines had a critical need and that is in short supply in Haiti, a country whose infrastructure has crumbled and whose utilities system is in a massive state of disrepair.

The ship swung by Port Canaveral on her way south to pick up John Gregov, the man responsible for coordinating the off-load of the urgently needed supplies. Gregov knew the off-load would be tricky because the ship was sailing into Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where gangs of well-armed Aristide supporters were on a rampage of looting and destruction in response to his fall from power.

With little lead time to make arrangements and only a handful of local port operators on the ground in Haiti, Gregov planned the off-load during Flickertail's journey south.

"I was sending e-mails from the ship on the way down, rounding up local stevedores and equipment to help with the off-loading."

Gregov ordered flatbed trucks to haul cargo and portable generators to light the pier as she off-loaded, but only half of the items made it to the port.

"I was notified by port authorities that the items were stuck in transit due to firefights," said Gregov. "I ordered three portable generators because there were no lights on the dock. One out of the three actually made it.

"I also asked the captain for permission to use the ship's crew during the off-load, which we don't usually do," said Gregov. "But we needed them because, under the circumstances, we didn't want any of the locals coming on board the ship."

The captain agreed.

Flickertail arrived in Port-au-Prince in the early morning on March 11, and the crew pitched in operating Flickertail's four cranes to transfer cargo from the ship to the pier. The crew worked so quickly that they turned their expected 72-hour stay into only a day-long venture.

"They really did an outstanding job," said Gregov.

At midnight on the 11th, Flickertail pulled away from Haiti and sailed home.

"It was a very good, efficient operation," said Gregov. "And everyone got home safely."