Ports move military cargo to Europe

A movement of thousands of tons of military equipment through two Southeast Texas ports as a part of a giant deployment has started to wrap up.

Since January, longshoremen and members of the 842nd Transportation Battalion at the Port of Beaumont and Port of Port Arthur have been receiving armored combat vehicles and other equipment by rail or road for an exercise called Defender-Europe 20.

By the time activities cease in Port Arthur sometime in the next few days, crews with 842nd Battalion will have moved 6,000 pieces of equipment out of both ports.

Lt. Cmdr. William Buffington said Gulf Coast ports are among the busiest for the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, with the Southeast Texas facilities increasing volume over the past several years.

“When you go to war you want power projection, and the most economical and fastest routes are through our Gulf Ports,” he said. “Unless something were to happen, you will see a projection of growth here.”

Defender-Europe 20 is the largest troop deployment to Europe since 1986 and will involve about 20,000 troops and personnel with thousands of tons of equipment.

The exercise isn’t a buildup for an actual combat operation, but rather a simulated wartime movement to test whether current forces are prepared to support European allies against a “near-peer competitor.” It is one of several exercises the U.S. Army has said it plans to participate in around Europe and the Pacific region over the next five years.

While leaders like Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters will be using the exercise to review whether there is enough infrastructure to support a full troop movement into allied countries like Germany, as he told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February, members of the 842nd said the movement has been business as usual.

Jennifer Meier, 842nd Transportation Battalion operations officer, said the one noticeable change, beside the unseasonal increase in volume, has been the addition of extra hands on deck.

The battalion usually has six active military personnel and 25 civilians operating at ports across the Gulf Coast. That number been supplemented by 27 reserve soldiers for the next year.

For missions that involve speed and huge volumes of cargo, Meier said the division relies on longshoremen and port authorities to complete their missions.

“We couldn’t do our job without them,” she said. “They help us extend our operational reach and we would be able to operate on multiple ports without that help.”

Five vessels in total will be loaded and sent to Europe from Beaumont and Port Arthur once the movement is over.

The Port of Beaumont receives more tons of military cargo per year than any other in the U.S. Its workload increased by 161 percent between 2017 and 2018. The 842nd Battalion moved 15,000 pieces of equipment in the first quarter of 2019.

The current operation may have special importance due to its part in a new moment for European defense, but it is only the latest in a busy four months for the crews at the two ports.

The 842nd received its first load of about 1,300 tanks, loaders, tractors and trucks in November as a part of an armored brigade’s return from the U.S. European Command. Lt. Col. Gordon Vincent, commander of the 842nd Transportation Battalion, said at the time that it was one of the largest movements he had overseen.

Shortly after, Meier said crews helped send out equipment from another combat team returning from U.S. Central Command in the Middle East before transiting to receive the thousands of pieces of equipment needed for Defender-Europe 20.