The Turkish Dogan Bey power ship sits moored in the southern port of Umm Qasr. The ship provides enough power to run a small Iraqi city. Currently, it feeds into the main Iraqi power grid. Photo by Sgt. Francis Horton

The government of Iraq has been concentrating on providing basic necessities to its people while striving to maintain order and security.

Electricity has been an issue Iraqis are concerned about. In the southern city of Basra and throughout Iraq demonstrations have been held demanding more reliable power.

In response, steps are in place to help ease the power problems.

In the southern port of Umm Qasr, the hub of imports and exports for the country, a large ship sits moored to the docks. It is adorned with Turkish and Iraqi flags painted on the side, and large transformers cover the majority of the deck.

“It’s like an on-land power facility,” said Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Frank Bullock, a logistic coordinator with the Joint Interagency Task Force. Reciprocating generators on the deck of the ship use a refined fuel provided by the Iraqi Department of Energy. The electricity is run to the Iraqi power grid. This ship alone has the ability to power Umm Qasr with some left over, he said.

“So far, we have had no security incidents,” said the plant manager and ship captain, Mutlu Cevlik, a Turkish sailor from Istanbul. A five-year contract has been signed with the Iraqi Department of Energy for the ship to provide power, he said. A second ship has also been dispatched from Turkey.

Security cameras and local guards have been hired to help secure the ship, Cevlik said. Around 70 people from Umm Qasr keep the ship safe 24 hours a day. Onboard, Turkish workers keep the generators maintained and running.

Turkish workers run fuel hoses across the deck of the Dogan Bey power ship to keep the generators filled and pumping to capacity. Photo by Sgt. Francis Horton

“Sandstorms are the biggest problem,” Cevlik said. The generators operate as close to full capacity as possible, but during periods of high wind, sand and dirt get caught in the filters causing overheating and automatic shutdowns.

Cevlick is confident issues like these will be easy to get around. The next step is to hire a security officer to help bring the ship up to international safety standards.

“We want to make this environment better,” Cevlick said.

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Francis Horton

Iraq navy patrol ship Nasir arrives in homeport, Umm Qasr. Photo by Lt. Ryan Schumacher

The Iraqi navy welcomed the Patrol Ship Nasir to its new homeport here in a ceremony Nov. 12. The Nasir is the second of four ships contracted from the Fincantieri Shipyard in La Spezia, Italy. The Iraqi manned ship departed Italy Oct. 15, completing the more than 5,000 mile journey in about a month.

The ceremony included a naval review of the Nasir and several other Iraqi ships and boats, as well as a demonstration of boarding tactics and a synchronized diver demonstration. U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James M. McDonald, deputy commanding general, Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq, spoke briefly at the event to highlight the importance of the Nasir in protecting Iraq’s coasts.

“Iraq is in charge of its security,” McDonald said. MNSTC-I’s Iraq Advisory and Training Team-Navy continues to help train and advise the Iraqi naval force. MNSTC-I’s goal is to assist Iraq in developing a capable-and-responsive force able for conducting maritime security operations in the region.

With more than 75 percent of Iraq’s gross domestic product coming from revenues generated by its offshore oil platforms, Iraq has a keen interest in protecting and controlling its territorial waters.

The ceremony ended with a tour of the Nasir for assembled guests and a brief cruise in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

DVIDS
Story by Lt. Ryan Schumacher

DoD
By Mohammed Aliwi, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region South District

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has turned control over the newly completed “roll-on/roll-off” berth at Umm Qasr Port to the Iraqi Port Authority.

Known as a RoRo because it serves “roll-on/roll-off” ships that share the acronym, the $2.7 million berth project doubles the number of the ships that can dock and unload simultaneously, said Rebecca Wingfield, GRS project engineer with Thi Qar Resident Office.

And that means that more goods can be delivered, raising the income of the port and subsequently its workers, she noted.

It is the second such berth to be completed at the port. The special berths are needed to accommodate the so-called “RoRo” ships, which come in a variety of capabilities. Some RoRo ships carry freight vehicles only, some carry freight vehicles and containers, and others transport cars without passengers. Freight-only ships represent three-fourths of the worldwide fleet of RoRos.

Natalie Sudman, the GRS project engineer, explained that the new berth was needed to replace an older, smaller one situated at the north end of the current berthing area of the port.

The existing ramp was unable to handle the increasing cargo demands and traffic congestion in the port and was posing a problem because vessels had to wait to dock and unload.

“For the shipper the RoRo vessel offers a number of advantages over traditional ships, notably speed,” Sudman said. “As the name of the system implies, cars and lorries can drive straight onto a RoRo ship at one port and off at the port on the other side of the sea within a few minutes of the ship docking.”

While the project was funded by the Army Corps of Engineers and supervised by its Gulf Region South District engineers, the berth was designed and built by Iraqis, Wingfield said.

“The Iraqi people can be proud of this project because it is theirs alone,” Wingfield said.

Yet another “good news” story out of Iraq that you won’t read in your local paper.

By A. Al Bahrani, Gulf Region South

BASRAH, Iraq, Jan. 24, 2007 — The Port of Umm Qasr directly influences the economy of Iraq and the U.S Army Corps of Engineers works to help improve the services of the Iraqi berths to handle the cargo flowing in or out of the country.

Natalie J. Sudman, a project engineer with the Gulf Region South District, oversees the $13.8 million project helping to expand the capacity of the port located south of the city of Basrah near the Kuwait border. It is Iraq’s only port, which helps to export and import commercial goods and services for the people, and its security and safety is a priority, Sudman said.

“To provide port security and harbor defense at the port of Umm Qasr, we installed a 9.7 kilometer chain link security fence around the perimeter of Umm Qasr North Port and South Port, built 19 observation posts, two points of entry, an interior and exterior truck staging areas,” she said.

A key benefit of providing port security and harbor defense is to give the Iraqi armed forces the facilities they need to protect their economy and promote growth.

“This is a major step toward attaining the international ship and port facility security code certification. This certification will lower insurance rates and make the Umm Qasr Port a more attractive port of call for foreign shippers,” Sudman said. “The certification will effectively increase the foreign trade with Iraq and increase employment rate in the local area jobs.”

The project is important to Iraq’s security and supports the major task of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure by bringing in materials, Sudman said. Another task that engineers worked this past year was a project to provide reliable power for two cranes and the lighting at the port.

“With the addition of the two cranes, this project will increase imports and exports, and reduce the time of loading and unloading,” said Tom Eidson, a Gulf Region South project engineer. Eidson described how USACE supervised the connection of each crane to a 1.9 million volt generator and two kiosk-type transformers.

To increase the commercial trade through the port and improve capacity, Army engineers are constructing a new second roll-on and roll-off berth facility.

“The new roll-on, roll-off berth will be about twice the size of the existing one,” said Eidson, whose experience with the Corps exceeds 25 years, “and it will increase the commercial trade capability at the port. Currently, a large percentage of vessels using the port wait in line for the opportunity to berth. The new facility will significantly improve the amount of passengers and cargo flowing through the port.”

Eidson said that the new berth is strategically located in the center of the existing port and provides ships more room to maneuver and transfer cargo.

“The project will expand cargo and passenger use of the port, which is critical to the Iraqi economy as the nation rejoins the global markets,” said Talib Abd-Beneen, a Gulf Region South quality assurance engineer. “These safe, modern and reliable facilities will serve to boost trade, and ensure the efficient flow of goods in and out Iraq.”

Army Corps of Engineers

The Basrah Province learned that the third of three sunken wrecks was successfully removed from the navigation channel at Khor Az Zubayr Port earlier this month.

The wreck removal news was announced to the Iraqi news media at the Khor Az Zubayr Port observation tower by Iraqi Minister of Ports Captain Hussan M. Abdallah and Mr. Razzak, Advisor to the Minister of Transportation for Iraq. The three docks are used for import and export of fuel products, and the capability to moor three barges simultaneously at these three docks increases Iraq’s capacity to import and export fuel products—vital to Iraq’s economic prosperity.

Oil is one of Iraq’s major exports. However, importing fuel products such as kerosene, gasoline, diesel and LPG, will continue until Iraq refinery facilities are able to produce enough fuel products to meet consumption demands within the country. On hand to discuss what this means to Basrah province and to the future of Iraq imports and exports were port managers at the two major Iraqi ports, Khor Az Zubayr Port Manager, Mr. Basil and Umm Qasr South Port Manager, Capt. Harmad.

This latest $2 million wreck removal is the second effort to clear the Khor Az Zubayr Port. An earlier $5.7 million contract raised four wrecks and removed over 3 million cubic meters of dredged material from the navigation channels at docks 9, 10, and 11.

While dredging the docks to get an 11-meter channel depth, the three recently-raised, wrecks were discovered in the soft sediment bottom blocking dock 10 and obstructing passage to docks 9 and 11. The removal of all seven wrecks was reported by Chris Frabotta, construction representative for the US Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Southern District, speaking to the Iraqi news media in front of three recently removed wrecks.

Without the 11-meter depth, a fuel barge can only navigate into this area of the port during high-tide water depth of 13.5 meters (41 feet). While unloading, the barge sits on the soft sediment bottom, as the tide recedes to a depth of 7 meters (23 feet). The barge is stranded at the dock until the next high tide.

The Iraqi Port Authority can now resume their annual maintenance dredging at docks 9, 10 and 11 at Khor Az Zubayr Port to achieve 11-meter (36-feet) depth without the risk of damage to their equipment from the sunken wrecks.

Kathye Johnson, deputy director, Project Contracting Office, spoke to the news media about the United States assistance in helping Iraq restore vital transportation networks to ensure the future of Iraq’s stability and economic prosperity.

The two Khor Az Zubayr Port contracts were accomplished by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Southern District using Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Funds.