SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS ABROAD
America’s ability to mobilize and project force overseas distinguishes us from other nations. This key capability is largely thanks to the Maritime Security Program (MSP), which helps ensure the Department of Defense always has U.S. flag carriers available to transport cargo. These select ship operators provide a continual supply chain that the U.S. government can rely on, giving the military reliable access to the best intramodal networks and know-how in the industry.To understand the importance of this program, look no further than Liberty Global Logistics, an MSP participant and Department of Defense contractor with the youngest US flag fleet of Pure Car Truck Carriers (PCTC). While transporting cargo for Operation Iraqi Freedom at the height of the Iraq War in 2006, Liberty took the bold move to sail one of its vessels into Umm Qasr, Iraq, to support active combat operations. It was the first commercial trading U.S. flag vessel to enter the country during the conflict.In the ensuing years, numerous carriers from the U.S. international fleet proceeded to transport break bulk and rolling stock cargo to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, Liberty transported the 1st and 10,000th Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles by sea, and was the first break bulk carrier to move retro-grade cargo from Afghanistan to the U.S. Overall, the MSP carrier community transported an estimated 90% of the rolling stock and break bulk cargo for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.About Liberty
Liberty is an established U.S. flag shipping company providing ocean transportation and logistics services world-wide to the US government and commercial customers. With decades of proven performance, the company’s vessels and intermodal networks help ensure the continuous supply chains that are vital to our country’s security. Liberty is an industry leader in safety and sustainability, and it has one of the youngest and most modern fleets carrying rolling stock, break bulk and project cargo for the U.S. government. Liberty is proud of its service performing vital missions in our country’s effort to support diplomacy and combat malnutrition throughout the world, and has a distinguished track record for on-time and reliable delivery of U.S. grown food assistance, and humanitarian assistance, to the parts of the world that need it most.
The success of our troops in theater depends in part on their equipment being in the right place at the right time. To ensure this happens, MSP carriers are subjected to stringent commercial, economic and intermodal vetting. They commit to required delivery dates that accompany cargo bookings, ensuring that our valued service members on the ground can depend on these trusted carrier networks to deliver mission-critical supplies and equipment. Indeed, MSP carriers give the U.S. military the logistical experience and execution capability it needs to remain the most powerful on earth.All MSP participating vessels are manned by U.S. Coast Guard licensed merchant mariners, guaranteeing employment for U.S. citizens, and further demonstrating the immense value that the U.S. shipping industry provides to our country. These mariners have proven time and again that they know how to protect our nation. Their ability to sail directly into harm’s way to further support our interests abroad — combined with the MSP sealift capacity — accelerates our speed of war. They are quick to adapt during times of peace, too, ready at a moment’s notice to move our combat or assault equipment, helicopters, tanks and other materials in response to geopolitical shifts.At the same time, Liberty provides global ocean transportation and logistics services to commercial customers, using its vessels and intermodal network to safeguard the continuous supply chains that are vital to our nation’s security. The company, an industry leader in safety and sustainability, also has a distinguished track record for on-time and reliable delivery of U.S.-grown food aid and humanitarian assistance cargoes all over the world.Without companies like Liberty, foreign carriers would have to perform all of these sensitive jobs, and this would jeopardize national security. By putting military cargo on American-flagged ships, the government is guaranteed a U.S.-based crew that has been vetted to ensure we have the experience, safety, and expertise we need. It is essential that we continue to support MSP and companies like Liberty so that we maintain our strategic sealift capacity and capabilities.