Crowley Establishing Unloading Capability at Port-au-Prince

News from Crowley Maritime Jacksonville Florida:
On Wednesday January 20 Crowley Maritime Corporation working under contract with the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) unloaded Haiti relief cargo in Rio Haina Dominican Republic. Fifty six of the 68 20-foot containers of water and meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) were trucked across the border into Haiti.

The remaining 12 loads aboard the container ship Marcajama were transported by water to Port-au-Prince Haiti. They will be offloaded in an experimental lightering operation and delivered across a beach today (Friday January 22.) If this method is successful future shipments could be made directly to Port-au-Prince.

The Crowley plan calls for the Marcajama to anchor offshore near the port’s damaged south pier and near the exposed beach. Using a shipboard crane on the Marcajama the 12 remaining containers would be lowered onto a smaller vessel operated by G and G Shipping and delivered across the beach on wheels.

A team from Crowley’s TITAN Salvage subsidiary surveyed the port area Monday and determined that such an operation was possible. They also determined that it would be possible to establish a temporary docking structure on the beach using a Crowley 400-foot-long by 100-foot-wide flat deck barge. Crowley is mobilizing such a barge (the 410) and a crane from Orange Texas that could be used for cargo discharge and plans to have both on the scene in Port-au-Prince on or about Feb. 2.