Since the beginning of the year, rolling US military goods have once again been increasingly handled at the ABC peninsula in Bremerhaven’s overseas port.
Since the beginning of the year, three different transport ships from the US Military Sealift Command, which had previously unloaded military goods in Poland, have moored in Bremerhaven one after the other.
No information is available on the scope of the cargo takeover in Bremerhaven or the destination ports of the transport ships.
Largest shipping operation since the start of the war in Ukraine
According to the newspaper Kieler Nachrichten, the USA has sent seven floating military transporters into the Baltic Sea bound for Gdansk in just ten days. This is said to be the largest shipment of US military equipment through the Baltic Sea since the start of the war in Ukraine. Three transport ships then set course for Bremerhaven’s Kaiserhafen from Poland. It is currently unclear whether further ships are expected here in the near future.
Around two weeks ago, the 212 metre-long RoRo ship “Cape Kennedy” from the so-called Cape K class moored in Bremerhaven and loaded an unknown number of rolling ground and tracked vehicles. This transport ship was built in Japan in 1979 for the Dutch shipping company Nedlloyd Lines as the “Nedlloyd Rosario”. In regular civilian service to North America, it was also seen taking on cargo in Bremerhaven for many years.
Around 30 years ago, the ship was then sold to the US Department of Transportation together with its sister ship “Nedlloyd Rouen” as an operational reserve ship. Both ships are in the care of the Keystone Shipping Company and are usually moored in New Orleans with a crew of nine in standby reserve. After a lead time of five days, both ships can then be mobilised.
“Red Cloud” docks in Bremerhaven
Last week, the 290-metre-long and 32.2-metre-wide USNS “Red Cloud” set course for the maritime city from Poland, arriving at the berth on the ABC peninsula via the Kaiserschleuse lock. This transport ship is one of a group of 19 large medium-speed RoRo ships (LMSR) of the Military Sealift Command.
The “Red Cloud” with the tactical designation T-AKR 313 belongs to the so-called “Watson class”. These special large RoRo cargo ships are used by the United States Armed Forces to pre-position ground vehicles such as tanks, trucks and other various wheeled vehicles required to support a heavy army brigade.
Up to 900 vehicles can be carried on the cargo decks. The Watson class comprises eight of the nineteen large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships of the Military Sealift Command. The “Red Cloud” was built in 2000 by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego and named after Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud, Jr., a Medal of Honor recipient.
The main propulsion for this class of ship is provided by two GE Marine LM gas turbines with an output of around 47,000 kW and a maximum speed of 24 knots. The theoretical range is given as 12,000 nautical miles, meaning that the ship could complete the approximately 3,000 nautical mile route between Bremerhaven and New York twice without refuelling.
The ship, which is not armed in civilian times, is operated by around 26 civilian personnel, although up to 50 military personnel can be on board to monitor the military equipment on board during transportation. The crew has sleeping, living and mess rooms as well as leisure and office facilities, a hospital complex, a laundry and workshops.
“Cape Edmont” off the ABC peninsula
Meanwhile, the 200 m long “Cape Edmont”, also coming from Poland, moored at the ABC peninsula. This is a former Swedish RoRo freighter, now 55 years old, which was delivered to the AB Transatlantic shipping company in Gothenburg as the “Paralla”. Together with two other sister ships, which have since been scrapped, it operated between the US West Coast and Australia. After being sold in April 1987, the former “Paralla”, still almost structurally unchanged, went to the Military Sealift Command as the “Cape Edmont” under the tactical identification T-AKR-5069. During a mission in the first Gulf War in 1991, the ship sank after a fire. It was later salvaged and repaired.
The ship, based in Norfolk, Virginia, reaches a maximum speed of 22.5 knots and also operates with a civilian crew and is part of the Ready Reserve Force (RRF) of the Maritime Administration (MARAD) of the US Department of Transportation. The RRF provides supplies for the US military worldwide. During non-active periods, the “Cape Edmont” is berthed at a berth in Charleston, South Carolina, with a hull crew of nine. The ship can be activated within five days.
In addition, many military vehicles are again being transported by low-loader via the A27 from Bremen and then through the overseas port area in Bremerhaven. (CE)
