United States Transportation Command

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (USTCNS) --- One of 1st Sgt. Rafael Rabassa's last actions as a soldier in the U.S. Army was to take the license plate off of his personal car.

Rabassa, a 24-year veteran was at MTMC's Vehicle Processing Center in Baltimore. Days before his retirement, Rabassa was shipping his car back to his native Dominican Republic.

As Rabassa traveled back to his Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., assignment March 13 to end his tenure as Co. E's top NCO, the receipt of his car triggered a specific transportation action for the Military Traffic Management Command: Creation of a one-time-only transportation contract.

On any given week, MTMC processes an average of 10-to-30 one-time-only shipments. They are labeled as such because they do not fit in the command's standard shipping contracts.

These cargoes can consist of anything ranging from a service member's personal vehicle, to two lighter craft mediums vessels destined for Tunisia, to humanitarian relief goods destined for a remote area of the globe.

In the past, this has been a labor-intensive action that required an average of five weeks of coordination between separate offices at both the Deployment Support Command and the Joint Traffic Management office at MTMC Headquarters before a contract was booked.

No longer.

Traffic managers are applying a new focus to the shipments that has slashed the time of delivery.

During the representative week of July 21, a total of 29 new one-time-only shipments were received.

Transporters handled 90 percent of contract awards of old and new contracts within 12 days-a drop of 66 percent of the former processing time, said Greg Sweetland, deputy director, Joint Traffic Management Office.

How was it accomplished?

"Our customers told us it was taking too long," said Sweetland.

"We set an initial goal to process 90 percent of all the one-time-only shipments within two days.

In March, an exercise study led to the determination that a third of the processing steps could be eliminated and other steps could be streamlined. Currently, one-time-only processing involves 23 separate steps -- down from the 35 it used to take.

"This effort has reduced MTMC's processing time from over 25 days to 9.5 days," said Sweetland.

Additional automation and the expanded use of the Universal Services Contract #02 will reduce MTMC processing time in the future further, he said.

The reduction of the processing time began with the formation of a special one-time-only team in March under the direction of Fran Staunton.

"Our biggest challenges is trying to get the correct information the first time around," said Staunton. "A lot of times the requirements change during the negotiation."

Look for even faster one-time-only processing in the future, said Staunton.

"They are our customers," said Staunton. "We have to create customer satisfaction."

Team member Roy Warner attributes the team's success to a number of factors:
* Developing electronic solicitation with carriers and using e-mail communication.
* Standardizing request for proposal documentation.
* Using veteran ocean carrier transporter Len Priber to negotiate unusual cargoes, destinations and timelines.

Warner, a 27-year MTMC veteran, formerly worked as an optimum benefits negotiator.

"It's a challenging opportunity to move unusual freight," said Warner. "It has given me the chance to better understand the international transportation process."

What is Warner's most difficult one-time-only move to date?

He is working on it right now, he says.

Warner is planning the move of two lighter craft mediums from San Pedro, Calif., to Tunisia.

"It's horrendous," said Warner, describing vessels that weigh thousands of pounds and are 17-feet high.

"If we go by ship, we are getting estimates of $800,000 to travel through the Panama Canal," said Warner.

"I have to think the process through."

He is considering shipping the vessels overland by truck ... as the clock runs down on the time required to process the order.

Meanwhile, another asset has arrived to assist the team.

Maj. Serge Pelletier, Canadian/U.S. integrated line of communication officer, has reported for duty with the Joint Traffic Management Office.

Assigned as the office's executive officer, Pelletier says the work of the team will be one of his first objectives.

"I am making this a personal project," said Pelletier. "I am getting to know the team and I am working with them."

Pelletier hopes there will be some transportation processes and ideas he has used in the Canadian Army that can be applied to one-time-only shipments at MTMC. (FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).

MTMC speeds the flow of one-time-only cargoes

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