Ship Off-Load Operations

Vessel off-load is a pain in the ass for everyone. Work centers are juggling their normal day to day operations as well as having to provide staffing for specific tasks that they excel at. A lot of the town is "fenced" off to keep pedestrian traffic out for safety reasons. Anywhere that you can fit a 20 or 40 foot cargo container has been commandeered for just that reason. The town is busy and, at times, chaotic. Luckily this only goes on for no more than 10 days or so.

From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009

From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009

Let me explain Vessel Off/on-load operations down here a little bit more. Most everything down here (food, heavy equipment, vehicles, machines, etc) arrives down here by a boat. A container ship to be exact. So far for the past several years, it's been the American Tern that has provided this critical support to the United States Antarctic Program. Because this is such a serious matter (supply 80% to 90% of cargo and equipment down here), the base goes through a lot of temporary changes for close to two weeks. One, the area right behind building 155 and in front of most of the dorms on base, the same area that is used as the primary shuttle pick-up and drop-off site, gets blocked off to the public entirely so it can be used as a container staging area. Two, the United States Naval Cargo Handling and Port Group (NAVCHAPS) provides over 70 personnel to help off-load cargo from the ship. Three, the Kiwi Army provides close to 30 personnel to assist with cargo off-load by driving the tractor-trailers that transport the containers from the pier, to their staging point, and, eventually, to their final "resting place" till they get loaded back on in later seasons. The later two changes are pretty major in the fact that all those personnel arriving at McMurdo are a huge impact on the base. Tensions usually get high as there are run-ins between towns folk, Kiwi Army, and the US Navy. Anyways, three, the bars get shut down and all liquor sales on base cease. This includes beer and wine in the store. Now this doesn't preclude anyone from drinking, they just can't buy liquor while ship off load is going on. All in all, it's a pretty tense and chaotic week or so while the ship is in town. Last year, it took 10 days to off-load about 600 containers and on-load 400 or so. Hopefully it will take about the same time, if not less.