The SS Northern Lights is heading to Asia from San Deigo this week carrying military cargo in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The ship, owned by Alaska-based Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc. was contracted by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command. (Courtesy of Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc.)
In a drastic departure from its usual shipments of groceries and new cars in the Puget Sound, the SS Northern Lights will pick up a very different load in San Diego this week, then undertake the long voyage to Asia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The U.S. Navy hired the commercial sea liner and 25 of its crewmembers to carry cargo to an undisclosed area in Southwest Asia — one of at least 170 ocean-going ships working for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, said Marge Holtz, the agency’s director of public affairs.
Navy Vice Admiral David L. Brewer, commander of the Military Sealift Command, hired the ship to haul cargo “essential to Enduring Freedom,” he wrote Robert Magee, president of Alaska-based Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc., the company that owns the cargo ship.
Navy officials declined to disclose the cost of the rental.
“We are proud to provide one of our vessels to aid the United States,” Magee said.
Of the 170 ships working for the command, more than 140 directly support Operation Enduring Freedom — a continuation of the armed services’ history of borrowing commercial craft, especially in wartime.
This week, the Pentagon invoked a 1951 agreement with the airlines to borrow 78 commercial aircraft for the movement of troops, if needed.
During the Persian Gulf War, the Military Sealift Command used 230 government-owned and chartered ships to move 12 million tons of wheeled and tracked vehicles, helicopters, ammunition, dry cargo, fuel and other supplies.
For the current mission, the Northern Lights was the right size with the right features in the right location, said Davelle Mack, spokeswoman for the company.Its “roll-on/roll-off” capabilities make it easier to load and unload cargo, especially wheeled freight such as military vehicles. Most ships must use heavy cranes to hoist cargo aboard.
“You can just drive it up the ramp,” Mack said. “Anything on wheels we can transport.”
Navy and company officials would not disclose the Northern Lights’s destination but it is under contract for 90 days — a long time from home for the ship’s civilian crew.
“They’re very dedicated and loyal to the vessel they serve,” Mack said, and also excited to play a role in the war against terror.
The 25-person crew volunteered for the trip. Boatswain John Glenn, the ship’s foreman, likened it to his early years at sea aboard Vietnam-bound cargo and ammunition ships.
“We’ve got a good crew and officers … it may be hard for my family, but this is the ship I belong to,” he said.
