Cargo handlers barge out en route to Southwest Asia

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, Fall, 2004 by Patti Bielling

Most deploying units move overweight, overdimensional equipment by motor or rail to get to a port of embarkation.

However, a unit at Fort Eustis, Va., recently moved these superloads using a more feasible mode--barge.

Three barges carrying 32 pieces of Kuwait-bound cargo left Fort Eustis Sept. 5 for the port of Charleston, S.C.

The 567th Cargo Transfer Co., bound for a year's duty in Kuwait, helped load their own equipment. Additional support came from the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, the Fort Eustis Transportation Office, and barge contractor Lockwood Brothers, Inc. of Hampton, Va.

Kalmar Rough Terrain Cargo Handlers made up about half of the 567th's barged equipment, along with a dozen other pieces--40-ton cranes, trucks, trailers and bull dozers, said Sgt. 1st Class Louis Cass, the unit's truck master.

Another 70 pieces of non-superload equipment were moved to Charleston by commercial motor carrier, he said.

Moving heavy and oversize equipment by water is more efficient than moving it by land, said Joan Haynie, Fort Eustis transportation officer.

"Superloads require special equipment and permits to move by truck, and specialized rail cars can be difficult to get" she said. "We're fortunate that we have Third Port here on Fort Eustis, which makes movement by barge feasible."

The 567th and its sister units often deploy equipment to stateside ports using watercraft from their parent unit, the 7th Transportation Group, said Haynie.

In September, however, those assets were being used for other missions.

Nevertheless, Soldiers from the 567th still took part in the deployment.

Cass oversaw the operation at Third Port while others moved and staged the equipment.

Lockwood's crane operators and riggers then took over, lifting the equipment onto the barges and tying it down.

Patti Bielling, Public Affairs Specialist

SDDC Operations Center