599th Trans. Bde.: Five vessel operations straddle fiscal years

WHEELER ARMY AIRFIELD, Hawaii -- The 599th Transportation Brigade conducted five port operations directly before and after the beginning of the 2021 fiscal year in September and October.

Four were in support of the 3rd Marine Regiment, headquartered at U.S. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay; and one supported 40th Quartermaster Company at Schofield Barracks.

The first move was a discharge operation at Barbers Point for 40th Quartermaster, which was returning from Operation Inherent Resolve. It took place Sept. 17-18 at Barbers Point on board the M/V Liberty Passion.

Although in the past, the brigade had used Barbers Point in order to practice using different ports on Oahu, this was not the case for this operation according to Denise Leae, contracting officer representative.

“The carrier decided to use Barbers Point,” said Leae. “They also subcontracted to hire the stevedore crew to offload the vessel.”

They had planned to finish the offload in one day, but some equipment remained at the port overnight and was taken back to Schofield Barracks the next day.

Marco Arboleda, 599th marine cargo specialist, said Barbers Point is much easier than Pearl Harbor to use from a traffic standpoint.

The second move occurred on Sept. 21 at Port of Honolulu’s Pier One on the Pasha M/V Marjorie C. in support of 3rd Marine Regiment cargo and equipment bound for Twenty-Nine Palms, California.

“This loadout began at 1:11 p.m. It was a small move, and the Marjorie C is car carrier, a roll-on, roll-off vessel, so it concluded quickly, safely and without any problems at 1:55 p.m.,” Arboleda said.

On Sept. 28, the 599th along with partners Fleet Logistics Center-Pearl Harbor and the Coast Guard conducted an ammunition resupply for military services throughout Oahu at West Loch Pearl Harbor from the tug Polar Ranger out of Port Chicago, an ammunition port in California.

Everything had to be lifted off of the barge during this operation, Arboleda said, so it took much longer than with roll-on, roll-off moves.

A lot of the cargo was staged to move in small convoys, and each service picked up their own cargo Sept. 28-29.

“The first container came off of the barge at 10:09 a.m. on Sept. 28, and the last came off at 10:15 a.m. on Sept. 29,” said Arboleda.

The 599th conducted the fourth operation on the Young Brothers barge Kukahi at West Loch Pearl Harbor on Oct. 4. It involved returning ammunition from Kawaihae Harbor on Hawaii Island that had been used in a Marine Corps training mission at Pohakuloa Training Area.

“Everything went according to plan and was on time,” said Arboleda. “The barge arrived at 7:45 a.m. We held the safety briefing at 7:50, everything was discharged by 8:15, all of the vehicles had departed by 8:30, and the barge left at 9:19 a.m.”

The fifth operation, on Oct. 10, was also at West Loch Pearl Harbor, said 599th contracting officer representative, Jimmy Quilon This was an upload onto Young Brothers Kukahi Barge, bound for Kawaihae, and on to Marine Corps training at Pohakuloa Training Area.

Quilon said the move took a little longer than normal because the barge was late, but everything went according to plan during the loadout.

“The moves on Oct. 4 and 10 were about the same as the others at West Loch,” said Arboleda. “Neither had any big problems, and both of these were easier because they were only a few pieces each, and the trucks could drive onto and off of the barge.”