BALTIMORE, Md. (USTCNS) --- A new, improved experience awaits military members going on a permanent change of station move who plans on shipping a vehicle to or from overseas.
Privately owned vehicle (POV) processing points throughout the world are under a single contract to the Military Traffic Management Command. The Global Privately Owned Vehicle contract was awarded to American Auto Logistics, Inc. (AAL), in September 1998. MTMC contract representative officers, one at each port, ensure contract standards.
Currently there are 39 Vehicle Processing Centers (VPC) that handled 75,000 vehicles the previous year. The port with the highest volume is in Hawaii where they processed 20,000 last year.
According to William Antonelli, vice president and general manager of AAL, the main concern is to make the customer's VPC visit as pleasant as possible.
"We've got the total time it takes to turn in or pick up a vehicle down to less than one hour," he says. "We also try to make the visit pleasant for accompanying family members or friends.
"When the customer arrives at the VPC gate," Antonelli says, "he or she is greeted by the security guard who has a list of expected customers. The guard will direct the customer to follow a blue line to special parking and the office entrance."
A staff of knowledgeable office and inspection personnel takes the customer through the process while family members or friends wait in a nicely furnished waiting room. There is a play area and toys for the little ones, television, vending machines, maps, area information and clean restrooms with changing stations available for use.
Once all paperwork is complete for a turn-in, the customer is told to follow another blue line to the entrance of the indoor inspection station. An inspector and the customer check the vehicle, annotate any discrepancies, and prepare the accessories box with authorized vehicle parts that may be shipped in the vehicle. Any part that is easily removed is inventoried and placed in a sealed box inside the vehicle. An item that is not considered authorized is given to the customer to take with them.
For some destinations, vehicles are containerized, usually two per 40-foot container. Occasionally a 45-foot container is needed to accommodate the larger pickup trucks or sports utility vehicles. "They are longer than a standard size vehicle," says Antonelli.
Some destinations such as Africa, Bahrain, Nicaragua, Brazil and others cannot handle containers, so roll on/roll off is used.
"One problem we see a lot during turn-ins is the customer not having the proper paperwork with him," Antonelli says. "The member's home base or post Traffic Management Office (TMO) will brief during outprocessing on all paperwork needed. Basically, the vehicle title, a letter from the bank or credit union that holds a lean on the vehicle, and copies of the travel orders are needed. If the person processing the vehicle is not the owner, then a power of attorney is required."
When turning in a vehicle for shipping, it must be clean and have no more than one quarter of a tank of gas. If not, the driver is asked to wash it or burn up the excess gasoline.
Proper identification is required to pick up a vehicle when returning from overseas.
"Another way that we try to make the visit pleasant is if a vehicle sustains minor shipping damage," he says. "In most cases, if the damage is under $1,000, our manager can pay the customer on the spot."
AAL is improving information on their Web site that gives in transit visibility (ITV) on a vehicle's location. The customer can track his vehicle every step of the way using www.whereismypov.com.
"We hope to have the improvements up and running in a month," Antonelli adds.
"If a customer is having a problem at one of our ports, they should contact the port manager," he says. "We want to fix any problem immediately, and we want to know what we did wrong so it won't happen again."
