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Fleet Readiness Center Southwest Mobile Facilities Supports Haitian Relief Efforts

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100203-20
Release Date: 2/3/2010 9:17:00 PM

By Jim Markle, Fleet Readiness Center Southwest Public Affairs

NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. (NNS) -- The Industrial Manufacturing/Mobile Facilities Branch (MOFAC) of Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) joined Operation Unified Response as part of the U.S. Navy's efforts to provide disaster relief and humanitarian aid to Haiti.

The organizaition will provide 14 trailer-like containers, or 'vans,' to the U.S. Army's 832nd Transportation Battalion in Jacksonville, Fla., who will ship the vans to Haiti, according to FRCSW MOFAC Production Coordinator Jim Sorrells. The equipment is scheduled for delivery Feb. 8.

"We received the request for these units shortly after the earthquake when the (U.S.) government started looking for ways to assist the people of Haiti," Sorrells said. "Our program manager, Maj. Randy Carter, of Naval Air Station (NAVAIR) Patuxent River, Md., directed sites to locate any reusable containers that can be stricken due to age or obsolescence and used for this purpose."

Navy Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Norfolk, Va., is slated to provide 24 vans, and Marine Corps Base Albany, Ga., which has a MOFAC pilot production program, may also contribute units, according to Sorrells.

Upon the completion of integrity inspections, the units will be shipped without support equipment, and after arriving at their destination, may be outfitted to serve as administration spaces, storage for humanitarian relief supplies or temporary shelters for Haitians, according to a NAVAIR statement.

For more than 40 years the Navy and Marine Corps have used the versatile steel-framed units for infrastructure and maintenance support during operations.

The Gichner Shelter Systems vans FRCSW will provide are the same most often used by the Marine Corps. The units are 8 feet high, 8 feet wide, 20 feet long and weigh approximately 5,000 pounds empty.

"We refurbish vans here and recycle them through, but it's better to re-work a van that's 20 years old or less because we're investing $15,000 to $20,000 per renovation," Sorrells said. "We'll turn over older ones to the Army that are 25 to 30 years old that we've surveyed and removed from our system. Some of these are still useable for other purposes, but not for military purposes."

Six of the structures were delivered Feb. 1 by FRCSW, Sorrells said, and the organization is prepared to provide additional units if requested.

Industrial Manufacturing/Mobile Facilities Branch has been outfitting and maintaining vans at Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island for almost 30 years.