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SIU ship carries peacekeeping cargo to Lebanon (11/7)

The U.S. Military Sealift Command has issued the following news release concerning a mission that involves the SIU-crewed Wilson. Indonesian, U.S. militaries join forces to deploy cargo to Lebanon Indonesia’s army teamed up with forces from the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army to deploy peacekeeping cargo for duty in Lebanon. Beginning Nov. 2, about 200 pieces of equipment, painted bright white with U.N. markings, were loaded aboard SS Wilson, a U.S.-flagged ship chartered for the mission by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. Later this month, 850 Indonesian troops will fly to Lebanon to meet up with their equipment and join the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. According to Wilson’s civilian mariner master, Capt. Paul James Mallory, the ship was making a routine port visit for supplies in Cape Town, South Africa, when it received the call to head to Jakarta. Mallory, who has served as master since 1997, said the ship is used routinely to transport military cargo. This was not the ship’s first visit to Jakarta. The ship visited the port in both 2003 and 2005 to deliver bulk rice for the United Nations’ World Food Program. “While the news came as a surprise to the crew, we are honored to support such an important mission,” Mallory said. Indonesia will join 20 other nations supporting the U.N. in Lebanon and are expected to remain in Lebanon for up to one year. Russian-built BTR-80A armored personnel carriers, as well as 5-ton trucks, trailers, patrol vehicles, ambulances, construction equipment, water tanks and shipping containers containing various supplies were loaded aboard Wilson in around-the-clock cargo operations at the Tanjug Priok port just outside of Jakarta. The ship got underway for Lebanon on Nov. 4. Personnel from the U.S. Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, under the command of Army Lt. Col. Colice Powell, performed the advance planning with the Indonesian army. “We worked with the Indonesian army for several weeks to coordinate the arrival of cargo at the port as well as to develop a plan to load it aboard the vessel,” Powell said. The ship arrived at Tanjug Priok in the early hours of Nov. 2, and shipboard cranes began hoisting cargo aboard at 10 a.m. that day. Wilson is a break-bulk vessel belonging to Sealift, Inc., of Long Island, N.Y. The ship is used solely by the U.S. government and most recently delivered grain to Mombasa, Kenya, for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Some cargo, including trucks, a water purification system, an electrical generator, a land cruiser and shipping containers will be sent by aircraft to Lebanon. Personnel from the U.S. Air Force's Third Logistics Readiness Squadron, based out of Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, were also on site to work with Indonesian forces to develop a plan to load the cargo aboard a Russian-built Antanov 124 aircraft. The aircraft was contracted by the U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command. The 185-meter, 32,000-ton Wilson is currently making the 5,690-mile journey to Beirut. -END-