Crowley Maritime Corp. announced that it has established a flow of relief cargo into San Juan, Puerto Rico, following Hurricane Maria, the devastating Category 4 storm that made direct impact with the island on Wednesday.
To make this possible, Crowley has four vessels loaded with a mix of relief and commercial cargo currently en route to the company’s Isla Grande terminal in San Juan, with two more scheduled to follow. These six vessels will begin entering the harbor as soon as the U.S. Coast Guard deems it is safe to do so, which some reports indicate may be as early as tomorrow morning. In total, these six vessels will bring in more than 2,200 full container loads of food and aid cargo, as well as commercial goods, to Puerto Rico.
Not to mention the USNS Comfort. I’ve heard that she’s sitting at the dock with a full complement waiting for the word to go. If this storm had been in the Philippines the Mercy would have been underway days ago. It’s ok though, I’m sure this will be the Jone’s Act’s fault anyways.
Hillary is bashing Trump for not sending the Comfort to PR. So now, he cannot send it because that would give the appearance that he is taking orders from Hillary.
Yes the comfort is currently Moored in US ORF since 06/22/17 prior to a few hurricanes ago? I agree - Strange. That might change in the near future? But she is not underway yet.
Maria is off Cape Hatteras right now, do yo guys expect it to sail through the storm? And Lee is offshore of Maria so the ship couldn’t have left sooner and gone out to sea because it would still be dodging a hurricane.
“One more Operational and Logistical thought for today: The US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) Cuba is an ideal logistical hub for supporting Puerto Rico. See photo below of LCU 2026 entering this port a few years back. With an airfield, piers, fuel, medical supplies, etc this highly accessible Naval port is an easy two (2) day sail from Puerto Rico. Supplies flown into GITMO can be easily loaded onto LCUs and LSVs, and transported to Ponce for land trans-shipment throughout PR. Ponce is located along PR’s central south coast, and is adjacent to highways. LCUs and LSVs can be scheduled to make 24/7 runs to and from GITMO. These vessels could obtain the fuel, food, and parts at GITMO necessary for sustained operations, and Soldiers could be easily rotated in and out via Military Flights. GITMO is ideally located to serve as a logistical hub in support of Humanitarian Assistance to Puerto Rico.”
Now there is endless screaming in the media for the Jones Act be waived to allow aid to be shipped to Puerto Rico while the are at least 50 EMM EFFING Ready Reserve Ro/Ros not doing SHIT,at the moment and thousands of American mariners needing honest seagoing work and an island territory with 4 million US citizens desperate for aid!
GODDAMN MOTHER FUCKING CHEETO AND HIS CLOWN CIRCUS
Ok say the govt surges every last fucking ship in the RRF.
Where are they going to dock? I’ve been to San Juan, the port isn’t very big. I’ve looked at the charts for Ponce, again not very big. I don’t know about Roosevelt Roads I’m assuming an old navy base has at least adequate dockage for RO/RO Ships. But What about roads to move all of that cargo? All of the roads have not been cleared yet. Where does that cargo go in the mean time?
Understandably, Trump is relying on FEMA and the military. What choice does he have? FEMA seems to be doing a remarkably good job, for a government agency. Ships take time to crew and prepare for extended humanitarian voyages. Is the government inefficient and slow moving? Of course, it’s the government.
To my mind, it makes sense to evacuate a significant percentage of the PR populaation to the mainland US, basically, anyone that wants to come. The only practical way to do that is by air. And feed whoever remains. The roads need to be made passable. Power needs to be restored to population centers. That’s short term.
Long term, Puerto Rico needs to be allowed to go completely bankrupt and get a truly fresh start. Then, there needs to be a Marshal Plan to rebuild PR. It does not matter how much it costs. Whatever it is, the Fed needs to print the money to fund it.
use our multi trillion dollar military! send in troops to clear the ports and the roads. have them unload the ships and drive the trucks carrying aid cargoes. why do we pay for all this capability if it is useless when we need their help?
It would seem the problem is a lack of truck drivers. Not A lack of ships, not because of the President, and not because of the Jones Act. The twitter report says there are 3000 boxes sitting in the port and longshoremen to load them but no trucks or drivers.