U.S. Merchant Mariners play critical role in meeting USTRANSCOM mission requirements

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (May 22, 2022) – National Maritime Day is observed on May 22 each year to recognize the people our maritime nation depends on.

This National Maritime Day, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) recognizes those in the United States maritime industry and the critical role they play in meeting day-to-day and wartime requirements.

“The sealift fleet is critical to the execution of our plans,” U.S. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, USTRANSCOM Commander, recently told the Senate Armed services Committee during a hearing in March. “They move 90 percent of the cargo in wartime.”

USTRANSCOM has a variety of means through which to accomplish sealift requirements, including Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Force, the Military Sealift Command’s (MSC) Surge Fleet, and U.S. flagged commercial shipping partners. 

Entire commercial ships can be chartered by MSC, but often a whole ship is not needed, and a scheduled US flagged “liner” service is contracted instead. These contracts are managed through the Acquisition Directorate at USTRANSCOM. Either way, the ships are manned and operated by U.S. Merchant Mariners, civilians who work in the maritime industry. 

Liner vessels and the shipments they take on are tracked by the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) Battle Staff here at Scott Air Force Base. 

“Our commercial maritime partners bring a huge amount of capacity,” said Kevin McKeller, SDDC chief of the battle staff.

In fiscal year 2021 alone, 86 large movements on liner vessels were coordinated and tracked by SDDC, not to mention many more smaller shipments for customers to include the Exchange and Defense Commissary Agency, McKeller said. The large moves included transporting brigade combat teams, aviation brigades and other units for exercises and deployments around the world.

Every day, and especially on National Maritime Day, USTRANSCOM recognizes the U.S. Merchant Marine as the backbone of our maritime capability and the qualified mariners it employs the lifeblood that power the strategic sealift portfolio. Sufficient and qualified mariners are essential to maintaining our readiness.

USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation's leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.