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US Army Ship Visits NAVSTA Guantanamo Bay to Deliver Haiti Supplies

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100322-13
Release Date: 3/22/2010 8:28:00 PM

From Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (NNS) -- The U.S. Army logistics support vessel General Frank S. Besson, Jr. (LSV 1) pulled into Naval Station (NAVSTA) Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Cuba, March 8 and loaded 21 container express (CONEX) boxes of food and humanitarian relief supplies to support Operation Unified Response in Haiti.

The Army's 10th Transportation Battalion is supporting a request to transport humanitarian aid to relief organizations in Haiti.

Besson's stop marks the vessel's first port visit to NAVSTA GTMO to load supplies and transport them to Haiti. The trip from NAVSTA GTMO to Haiti will take approximately 18 hours.

Sailors attached to Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 13 (NCHB 13) and Soldiers assigned to the 335th Transportation Detachment used a Kalmar Rough Terrain Container Handler to load the CONEX boxes containing rice, food rations and water purification equipment within 24 hours during the vessel's brief stop March 8.

The Kalmar Rough Terrain Container Handler is a specialized cargo handling tractor designed to move CONEX boxes over rough terrain.

Besson is a vital asset to Combined Task Force (CTF) 48, which is responsible for coordinating all logistics for the delivery of disaster relief supplies, vehicles and equipment to Haiti.

"Our command tracked the cargo coming in from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, (Fla.), and informed Joint Task Force Haiti of the need for onward movement, providing the necessary coordination of efforts." said Senior Chief Yeoman JoAnn Barnes, command senior enlisted advisor for CTF 48.

Besson is the largest powered logistics support vessel (LSV) watercraft in the U.S. Army's inventory and is designed to give the Army the capability to deliver its vehicles and cargo anywhere in the world.

"Eventually, food and clean drinking water will be provided directly to the Haitian population," said Barnes. "Successive joint operations better define that ability of the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force to work together in 'purple suit' symphony."