Military Sealift Command (MSC) chartered Motor Vessel (MV) Cape Hudson (T-AKR 5066) arrived at the port of Banyuwangi, Indonesia, to offload equipment in support of exercise Super Garuda Shield 2024, August 12-13, 2024.
The vessel embarked on its voyage from its home base in San Francisco and made stops to load cargo and personnel in Tacoma, Wash.; Honolulu; and Japan before arriving at Banyuwangi.
Super Garuda Shield, one of the largest multinational exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, continues to solidify the U.S.-Indonesia Major Defense Partnership Defense Cooperation Agreement and advances cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
“This is not a typical commercial route,” said contracted mariner Benjamin Day, ship’s master, MV Cape Hudson. “We originated from the West Coast of the United States, then Hawaii and Japan, to bring equipment and a mission set all the way to Banyuwangi, Indonesia, to support (exercise Super Garuda Shield).”
Oversight of the offload in Indonesia was conducted by a detachment of the U.S. Army’s 835th Transportation Battalion, 599th Transportation Brigade, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), out of Okinawa, Japan.
Within two days, the ship unloaded approximately 313 pieces of equipment and containers. Once the items were discharged off the ship, they were staged at the marshalling area for onward movement to the respective training area.
Between the expertise of MSC, SDDC and Banyuwangi port officials, all gear was off loaded as scheduled.
Cape Hudson is a 750-foot-long roll-on, roll-off container vessel with four decks of cargo space. The ship can accommodate 186,000 sq. ft. of cargo, which equates to about 4.3 acres of space that can equal roughly 38,000 tons of cargo. It is part of the Cape H-class of ships that include MVs Cape Horn and Cape Henry.
Despite its massive presence, the ship’s characteristically low draft allows for this tonnage while still getting into smaller ports. This ship has a significant cargo capacity and is multimodal, making Cape Hudson ideal for the charter.
According to Day, his experience on commercial container ships differs from these types of ships and missions.
“These ships are a lot different then what I’m used to,” said Day, who has more than six years of experience with the Cape H-class ships. “Doing this type of mission is fun because the cargo is different, you’re lashing it differently; it takes a broader skill set.”
Cape Hudson is part of the Ready Reserve Force fleet of vessels. The RRF is a subset of vessels within the Maritime Administration's (MARAD) National Defense Reserve Fleet ready to support the rapid worldwide deployment of U.S. military forces.
As part of the crew of Cape Hudson, MSC also assigned a tactical advisor (TACAD), whose job is to deploy on commercial chartered vessels and act as a liaison between military higher headquarters and the ship’s crew.
The Navy Reserve is MSC's manpower solution for surge mission sets, and TACADs are typically Strategic Sealift Officers (SSOs), who are warfare qualified Navy Reserve Officers with civilian Merchant Mariner credentials and military training to support the activation, operation, and sustainment of the Sealift fleet.
“I make sure the vessel gets from point A to point B safely and that we are in contact with higher headquarters,” said Lt. j. g. Alexa Lumpkin, TACAD on Cape Hudson. “This involves establishing secure communications between the ship and military operations center. I also provide contested-maritime-environment training with the crew.”
Lumpkin is serving on her fourth TACAD mission. She stated she enjoys serving as the TACAD. In her civilian job, she is a merchant marine and sailing on her third mate’s license as a merchant mariner can be stressful.
“As a mate, I don’t feel like I have a lot of time when we get to port,” said Lumpkin. “But as a TACAD, it’s a whole different experience. I get to work with lot of people; I get to be involved in missions such as this. I just like being a part of it.”
Additionally, to support the discharge of equipment, MSC deployed a three-member Reserve-component team from various Reserve Expeditionary Port Units (EPU) in the U.S. to assist with port operations.
“We’re here to help MSC and SDDC with the offload of Cape Hudson. Our role is to act as a liaison between SDDC, the ship, and port authorities, and to make sure that the port is suitable for the ship in Banyuwangi,” said Quartermaster Chief Joshua Vest, senior enlisted leader, EPU 112, from Little Rock, Ark. “We’re also making sure everyone involved is adhering to safety procedures. I think we’ve been maintaining a good schedule, and everybody has learned something valuable toward the expeditionary side of port operations.”
According to Vest, it makes a lot of sense to bring out EPUs to support these specialized missions.
“EPUs play a crucial role that is sometimes overlooked,” said Vest. “Their contributions are not tethered to certain tasks or responsibilities but on providing expertise in varying situations.”
According to the MARAD website, RFF provides nearly 50 percent of government-owned surge sealift capability.
MSC Far East supports the U.S. 7th Fleet and ensures approximately 50 ships in the Indo-Pacific Region are manned, trained, and equipped to deliver essential supplies, fuel, cargo, and equipment to warfighters, both at sea and on shore. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024, MSC exists to support the joint warfighter across the full spectrum of military operations, with a workforce that includes approximately 6,000 Civil Service Mariners and 1,100 contract mariners, supported by 1,500 shore staff and 1,400 active duty and Reserve military personnel.