The Portuguese port of Setubal took shipment Dec. 7, 2023, of a load of U.S. military equipment that was headed back to the United States after being used in Estonia, as part of the response to safeguard NATO members in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. (Andrew Jo/U.S. Army)
A Portuguese port recently took its first turn shipping American military goods from Europe back to the United States as part of efforts to diversify the ways the Pentagon moves cargo in and out of the Continent.
On Thursday in Setubal, roughly 500 pieces of equipment belonging to the Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky., was loaded onto a stateside-bound ship, the service said in a statement the same day.
The push to gain options for moving equipment and supplies across Europe reflects a growing focus on mobility by NATO.
The Portuguese port “is the furthest west that we’ve ever operated coming in or out of Europe,” said Col. Robert Kellam, commander of the 598th Transportation Brigade. “We were able to effectively connect the furthest point in eastern Estonia to the furthest west port in Portugal and connect all the transportation nodes from here to there.”
The equipment, including light medium tactical vehicles and heavy expanded mobility tactical trucks, arrived in Poland months earlier before it was moved on to Estonia.
U.S. troops deployed to Estonia used the equipment in Operation Atlantic Resolve, the allied mission that began following Russia’s 2014 aggression against Ukraine.
Portuguese army Maj. Gen. Joao Paulo de Almeida, left, talks with Col. Robert Kellam, center, the 598th Transportation Brigade commander, and Lt. Col. Michael Harrell, the 839th Transportation Battalion commander, during an operation Dec. 7, 2023, at the port of Setubal in Portugal. ( Andrew Jo/U.S. Army)
The brigade and the Germany-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, to which it reports, conducted the operation along with the Portuguese military and port authority, the Army said.
Setubal, which is just south of Lisbon, is the latest European port to cooperate with the U.S. military since Atlantic Resolve began in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and began backing armed separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
In 2021, when the Army and Danish troops offloaded hundreds of pieces of equipment during a first-of-its kind mission at the Danish port of Esbjerg, the U.S. said expanding the number of seaports that can support Army deployments was a key objective.
Since then, the Army has also begun using the port of Adria in Bar, Montenegro.
The Army expects more cooperation with Portugal in the future, 21st TSC spokesman Maj. Vonnie Wright said Tuesday.
“We both desire to do more with each other, and this was a successful joint operation,” Wright said.
An M984A4 heavy expanded mobility tactical truck, or HEMTT, is loaded onto the Ocean Grand by crane Dec. 7, 2023, in Setubal, Portugal. U.S. Army equipment that had been used in Estonia was sent back stateside via Setubal. ( Andrew Jo/U.S. Army)
