ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (USTCNS) --- Food distribution to Department of Defense service members and their families in Europe has been disrupted by the discovery of foot-and-mouth disease in The Netherlands.
The movement of food products into The Netherlands has been halted in an effort to curtail the spread of the highly contagious disease.
"We are at a crisis level in The Netherlands right now," said Col. Tom E. Thompson, operations officer, of the Military Traffic Management Command.
"The Netherlands has embargoed the movement of container cargoes of food that are either refrigerated or frozen."
Border checkpoints have been thrown up to halt movement of farm products.
"Farm products just aren't going anywhere," said Thompson.
MTMC 's customers most seriously affected include: Army-Air Force Exchange System, Defense Commissary Agency, Troop Issue Subsistence Activity and Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Europe Region.
An initial 72-hour embargo has halted the movement of 60 MTMC containers in Rotterdam, said Thompson. Dutch authorities are expected to announce more guidance tomorrow (March 24).
"The commissaries and post exchanges will feel the pinch soon."
Various restrictions are now in effect in The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Turkey and parts of France, said Thompson.
MTMC, the Department of Defense's freight shipper, also is the prime shipping agent of perishable and nonperishable goods to military commissaries and post exchanges throughout Europe.
Rotterdam, home location of MTMC's 598th Transportation Group, is a prime entry point for cargoes of all kinds into Europe.
With the discovery of foot-and-mouth disease Wednesday, the group instituted an emergency action plan.
"We expect transshipments of reefer containers will be problematic and may cause delays when routed through The Netherlands," said Col. John Brown, Commander.
"For that reason we are coordinating with our contractors to meet host nation disinfecting requirements in the different European ports and seek solutions to route containers to our customers the fastest way."
The MTMC cargo most immediately impacted is 60 containers that arrived on Sealand Performance in Rotterdam on Wednesday.
"We are checking how many of the 39 freeze and 21 chill containers discharged from Sealand Performance will be impacted," said John Slee, Chief of Documentation.
A key response of MTMC will be the disinfecting of cargoes - containers, equipment and privately owned vehicles.
"We are talking to Military Sealift Command, Europe and our contractors to implement and execute United States disinfecting requirements for loading Department of Defense equipment and privately owned vehicles aboard ships in European ports," said Brown.
"MTMC will do everything possible to deliver cargo to all customers in a safe and timely manner," said Brown.
With the foot-and-mouth virus carried by dirt, the privately owned vehicles shipped by MTMC for service members are also under added shipping restrictions.
MTMC's prime contractor on the Global POV Contract, American Auto Logistics, Inc., of Monroe, N.Y., has voluntarily been washing vehicles with disinfectant, at the Brandon, United Kingdom, vehicle processing center in reaction to the disease.
"We want to ensure the vehicles do not spread the disease and at the same time we want to meet shipping required delivery dates," said Sandy Santianna, Customer Service & Logistics Manager.
The Dutch Secretary of Agriculture has restricted movements of cattle, poultry, farm transport vehicles and embryos of cloven-hoofed animals throughout the entire country. More stringent rules apply to exports. No meat and diary products can be exported.
The transportation of milk from farms to dairies is prohibited for 72 hours and visiting farms is strongly discouraged.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Europe has severely restricted training in order to comply with an emergency order from the German Federal Ministry of Defense. The order prohibits field training outside of built-up installations with few exceptions. (FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).
