Posted:
August 20, 2008
The Maritime Administration has signed an agreement with the U.S. Transportation Command to use National Defense Reserve Fleet ships, particularly the Ready Reserve Force, to support government response to civil emergencies at home, as well as for defense sealift and humanitarian response missions overseas, MARAD announced.
The agreement signed by Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton and Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander of USTRANSCOM, formalizes the humanitarian and disaster relief roles of the ships in the government fleet.
During the 2005 hurricane season, emergency vehicles were driven onboard two Ready Reserve Force ships in Beaumont, Texas, where they were sheltered from Hurricane Rita and were, therefore, ready to respond to local emergencies when the storm passed. Other RRF ships provided food and shelter for recovery workers and first responders on the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Since its inception in 1976, the RRF has provided USTRANSCOM with strategic sealift support. The 44 ships of the RRF are owned by the Maritime Administration, crewed by contract civilian merchant mariners and managed by commercial U.S. companies.
The new agreement details the procedures the agencies will use for civil contingencies and national disasters such as the safe storage of emergency vehicles, providing fuel for local emergency services, or berthing and feeding of first responders.
MARAD programs promote the development and maintenance of a well-balanced U.S. merchant fleet to carry the nation’s domestic waterborne commerce and a substantial portion of its waterborne foreign commerce, as well as providing continued sealift support and serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency. USTRANSCOM is responsible for creating and implementing world-class global deployment and distribution solutions in support of the President, secretary of defense, and missions assigned by combatant commanders.
New agreement formalizes humanitarian role for Ready Reserve Force
The Maritime Administration has signed an agreement with the U.S. Transportation Command to use National Defense Reserve Fleet ships, particularly the Ready Reserve Force, to support government response to civil emergencies at home, as well as for defense sealift and humanitarian response missions overseas, MARAD announced.
The agreement signed by Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton and Gen. Norton Schwartz, commander of USTRANSCOM, formalizes the humanitarian and disaster relief roles of the ships in the government fleet.
During the 2005 hurricane season, emergency vehicles were driven onboard two Ready Reserve Force ships in Beaumont, Texas, where they were sheltered from Hurricane Rita and were, therefore, ready to respond to local emergencies when the storm passed. Other RRF ships provided food and shelter for recovery workers and first responders on the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Since its inception in 1976, the RRF has provided USTRANSCOM with strategic sealift support. The 44 ships of the RRF are owned by the Maritime Administration, crewed by contract civilian merchant mariners and managed by commercial U.S. companies.
The new agreement details the procedures the agencies will use for civil contingencies and national disasters such as the safe storage of emergency vehicles, providing fuel for local emergency services, or berthing and feeding of first responders.
MARAD programs promote the development and maintenance of a well-balanced U.S. merchant fleet to carry the nation’s domestic waterborne commerce and a substantial portion of its waterborne foreign commerce, as well as providing continued sealift support and serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency. USTRANSCOM is responsible for creating and implementing world-class global deployment and distribution solutions in support of the President, secretary of defense, and missions assigned by combatant commanders.