599th Trans. Bde. conducts quick turnaround for Marines at West Loch

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- Transporters from the 599th Transportation Brigade conducted an operation on the Young Brothers barge Kukahi at West Loch here on Nov. 15 to offload Marine Corps ammunition and vehicles.

Marine cargo specialists Marco Arboleda and Staff Sgt. Deontre Austin, and traffic management specialist Jimmy Quilon were on hand for the brigade.

“The Marines were originally only going to unload their ammunition at West Loch and then go over to the Young Brothers piers in Honolulu Harbor for the rest of the vehicles,” said Quilon, “But they worked it out with Young Brothers and West Loch officials to be able to offload everything here.

“It saved them a lot of time and trouble since West Loch is closer and a straight shot to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay,” he added. “They would have had to make additional trips and deal with downtown Honolulu traffic if they had gone to the commercial port.”

Quilon was the contracting officer representative for the move.

“I had to monitor the move and act as a liaison to make sure all of the participants were complying with contract requirements,” he said. “There were no problems at all with this move.”

Quilon said they started a little late.

“We got a late start because of new security requirements on the base, but the harbormaster did not allow the barge to dock until all of the participants arrived,” he said, “So it wasn’t there waiting for us.”

Arboleda and Austin checked the cargo as it came off of the barge and made sure everything came through safely.

“We kept the tally, and helped with the order of the move. Once everything was off, we checked with the Marines to ensure that all of the cargo was undamaged,” Arboleda said.

Arboleda agreed that the move was smooth.

“I spoke with the Marines, West Loch and Young Brothers personnel before the ramp came down, so we were all on the same page as to the order that the cargo would come off,” he said. “I wanted to make sure they offloaded the ammunition first.”

“I have worked a lot of these types of moves with them now, so it’s an easy process for me, and we have a good working relationship,” he added.

Austin has been working transportation since he came in the Army in 2009. He has been with the 599th since August 2018.

“This was the smoothest operation I’ve ever worked,” he said. “Everyone worked well together; you could tell they have done a lot of these operations.

“I like to work down at the port,” he added. “This wasn’t my first time working on a barge; I worked another operation with Young Brothers last month.”

Arboleda said the 3rd Marine Regiment cargo was returning from the Marines' training rotation to Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii Island.