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Security concerns: MTMC shipments travel in a new route to Kosovo

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (USTCNS) --- It was just the movement of another routine peacekeeping cargo when transporters with the 841st Transportation Battalion loaded the Tellus in Charleston, S.C., on April 21.

But, this shipment of combat equipment for American peacekeepers in Kosovo was different.

The cargo was not routed through Thessaloniki, Greece, as most previous shipments had moved since June 1999. Instead, the Tellus was routed to Bremerhaven, Germany.

The change in shipping routes was caused by safety concerns, said Master Sgt. Pete Fejeran, a MTMC headquarters operations officer.

The decision proved to be well justified.

On June 8, Brig. Stephen Saunders, the British Embassy defense attaché was assassinated in Athens. Greek police suspect the fatal shooting is linked to the terrorist group November 17, believed responsible for 22 slayings over the last 25 years. The victims include four American officials and one U.S. Embassy employee.

The terrorist group follows a Marxist ideology with ultra-nationalist and anti-militaristic themes.

Since early March, all MTMC shipments from the continental United States for the Kosovo peacekeeping mission have gone to Germany-not Greece.

The initial restrictions on air, sea, rail and road movements in Greece were ordered by the Hellenic National Defense General Staff from March 1-April 10 due to national elections, said Fejeran.

"The elections, combined with a visit by the President of the United States to Greece, resulted in two port closures that would affect two Kosovo Force deployments from the continental United States."

The use of Bremerhaven has continued since, then said Fejeran, due to security and safety concerns. The U.S. Army Europe has decided Bremerhaven should be used as the primary seaport for cargo from the United States for Kosovo peacekeeping.

"There were increasingly unfriendly demonstrations against American involvement in Kosovo," said Fejeran, "so force protection became a real factor."

However, MTMC continues to use Thessaloniki for cargoes not destined for Kosovo.

The rail trip from Bremerhaven to Camp Able Sentry, the American staging base in Skopje, Macedonia, takes five days. The military cargo winds through a circuitous route that includes Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

The change in routes has advantages to the Military Traffic Management Command, said Rick Shilby, team leader responsible for operations in the European Command and Central Command areas of operations.

"Our terminal personnel don't have to deploy to Thessaloniki so much," said Shilby.

With the operations tempo so heavy, MTMC's Deployment Support Command was poised to send personnel from the United States to augment the 953rd Transportation Command in Greece, said Shilby. Now, that will not be necessary.

Most of the peacekeeping shipments from the United States have gone by American flag liner service as provided under the Universal Services Contract 02.

"Under the contract," said Fejeran, "American Flag commercial vessels are used whenever feasible if they meet the cargo delivery timelines."

"The biggest challenge is that these commercial vessels normally have established routes, in which Thessaloniki or Bremerhaven could be one of many en route ports," said Fejeran.

"The ships have published timelines but arrivals and departures can still be affected by unforeseen circumstances, such as weather conditions, port congestion and labor strikes."

The linkage of Bremerhaven and Thessaloniki was established last summer with the initial entry of the Army's 1st infantry Division, based in Germany, to Kosovo.

The Navy ships Bob Hope and Soderman, of the Military Sealift Command, carried the first combat equipment into the port of Thessaloniki after six-day voyages from Bremerhaven.

Later, the Osprey carried equipment from Beaumont, Texas, to Thessaloniki. (FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).

Office of Public Affairs - transcom-pa@mail.mil
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