Swift patrol boat 304 enters the port here Aug. 7. The Iraqi navy accepted control of Swift boats 304 and 306 Aug. 13.

The Iraqi navy accepted Swift-class Patrol boats 304 and 306 from the U.S. Navy during a handover ceremony Aug. 13 at Umm Qasr, Iraq.

Saturday’s ceremony was the culmination of months of effort for both the U.S. and Iraqi Navies.

“I’m extremely happy for the Iraqi navy,” said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Kelvin Dixon, director of Iraq Training and Advising Mission-Navy and Marines from Rockaway, N.J. “The delivery of the U.S. built Swift Patrol Boats 304 and 306 increases the Iraqi navy’s capability to effectively patrol and defend their territorial waters and critical oil infrastructure.”

“The Iraqis have really done an outstanding job with the limited assets they had,” said Cmdr. Quintin “QB” Bell, commanding officer of the ITAM-N/M at Umm Qasr from Augusta, Ga. “The addition of these two very-capable patrol boats will greatly enhance their ability to carry out their assigned missions.”

Iraqi navy commander, Rear Adm. Ali, said that the delivery was an important day for the Iraqi navy, and he thanked everyone for making the day happen, according to Bell.

Construction began on 304 and 306 in mid-2010 in Morgan City, La. Upon completion, the 35-meter patrol boats began their journey to Iraq in June with a month-long voyage from Houston to Bahrain on the roll-on/roll-off ship MV Cape Trinity. The U.S. Navy offloaded the vessels in Bahrain and sailed them to Umm Qasr under the U.S. flag.

Swift Patrol Boats 304 and 306 arrived in Umm Qasr Aug. 7 and underwent final checks and sea trials facilitated by Naval Sea Systems Command and ITAM-N/M engineers. U.S. engineers and advisors validated the boats were seaworthy and the crews were qualified prior to the handover.

After U.S. and Iraqi navy leadership signed required documents, U.S. and Iraqi sailors lowered the U.S. flag and raised the Iraqi flag on the vessels to complete the handover.

The patrol boats provide capability for a variety of missions including maritime surveillance and reconnaissance as well as vessel boarding and search and seizure. The new vessels raise the Iraqi navy’s patrol boat force to five of 12 ordered. The remaining Swift boats are expected to arrive in Iraq before 2013.

The Iraqi navy is responsible for protecting off-shore oil infrastructure, territorial waters, Umm Qasr, and checkpoints in the surrounding area. Currently, the Iraqi fleet boasts 65 vessels, and more than 3,700 sailors and Marines, conducting more than 50 weekly patrols.

DVIDS
Story by Maj. Brandon Lingle

When the city of Basra was particular unstable between 2006 and 2008, the port of Umm Qasr was left to tread water as a contributor to Iraq’s economic development.

Now, however, through the collaboration of the Joint Interagency Task Force Iraq and Iraqi partners, the port is positioned to navigate over its next developmental hurdle.

Today, port operations are more secure than they were just two years ago when Shiite extremists controlled much of the area. Quelled by Iraqi forces, the city of Basra is now peaceful. The task force, which includes the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, is charged with aiding in Iraq’s reconstruction. Part of that collaboration includes devising a plan to make Umm Qasr more attractive to potential international trade partners.

Steadiness in a city that could be Iraq’s primary economic generator is a major priority of Multi-National Force – Iraq.

U.S. Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq, arrived Nov. 21 to speak with task force officials about progress at Umm Qasr and its efforts to meet mandates under the International Ship and Port Facility Code – a certification that more countries are obtaining to gain a larger slice of the global maritime marketplace.

A tool of the International Maritime Organization, the code is a comprehensive set of measures to enhance the security of ships and port facilities, developed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

In the last few months, ships from such countries as North Korea, Jordan, Panama and Sierra Leone have arrived at Umm Qasr carrying wheat, cars and building materials. Built in 1958, Umm Qasr is designed to handle agricultural and manufactured goods and is Iraq’s only deep-water commercial port.

Odierno understands that implementing the certification for Umm Qasr is important to drawing more international trade prospects because the code is becoming the accepted standard in international shipping operations. The challenge is getting Iraqi stakeholders to embrace the concept as well.

“If they become more efficient, they have an incredible opportunity,” Odierno said of the port authority and its role in Iraq’s economic future.

Maj. Mark Reiswig, a civilian military transportation officer for the 34th Infantry Division, helps address port and security issues for task force’s Port Advisory Coordination Element. While Umm Qasr has made strides to bring the port nearer compliance, the bigger test is convincing Iraqi stakeholders that privatizing one of the state’s most significant state-owned assets will be key.

“The concept that you can come over as a company and make money is pretty foreign to them,” said Reiswig, of Rockville, Md. “Iraq will look like Kuwait and Bahrain, once they start to make [progress].”

The certification process is about eight months from being completed. Because an international port is only as safe as the incoming vessel’s last port of call and the cargo’s last inspection, it is essential that Iraq ensure measures are sufficient to fend-off threats and protection breaches, said Maitham Najim, Umm Qasr’s head of port security.

The task for “gave me a lot of direction, also a check list that helps,” Najim said.
The check list is long, but getting shorter.

Task force and port officials are working to improve various port security features, including better ways of controlling port access, screening and inspecting cargo, installing additional security equipment, upgrading customs processes and introducing automation.

Capital for the upgrades is being provided by a $370 million loan from Japan. At the port site, trucks move containers to one yard daily where they are off -loaded and moved to another yard to be used again. Before, containers were stacked in one location and left.

It’s getting better as far as efficiency, said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Joseph LoSciuto, PACE officer in charge, but there’s room for improvement across the whole port operation.

“Right now, it takes 10 days to process cargo once it comes in,” he said. “With the changes we want to implement, we can cut that down to five days.”

Under an agreement between the Syrian and Iraqi transport ministries, the first rail trip from the western Syrian seaport of Tartous to Umm Qasr took place earlier this year. According to Reiswig, having a working railway that connects to Basra’s port is an integral part of the transportation equation.

Advisors are pursuing a reduction of the number of port employees from 4,800 to 900, Luscioto said. That’s because the state-owned port, a major employer, has a long-standing tradition of patronage.

Convincing their Iraqi counterparts that trimming employee rolls is beneficial to the port’s overall efficiency will be a difficult, but essential for the port’s future.

There are no simple solutions, LoSciuto acknowledged, in convincing some Iraqi officials that the move to privatization is a move toward a stronger future in Iraq.

“This is important, but we can’t do it unless they want to do it,” Odierno said.

DVIDS
By Army Master Sgt. David Bennett

Iraqi national distribution capability took a big step forward Tuesday as the Iraqi Railroad successfully picked up cargo from Iraqi Transportation Network trucks at Camp Taji and moved it to the Port of Umm Qasr.

The rail spur at Taji opened for cargo movement for the first time since 2004. A 20-car IRR train owned and operated by the Government of Iraq picked up 40 empty containers for movement to the port of Umm Qasr. The operation was an important step in an effort to linking Iraqi trucking, Iraqi rail, and Iraqi port operations.

One Iraqi with a critical role in the day’s event stated the operation was a sign of Iraq’s rebuilding effort. “It’s our country and we want to serve our country. Whatever it takes to do, we’ll do it. So we came here to serve our country; rebuild it,” Mohammed, the train’s conductor said through an interpreter.

The IRR is a key piece of transportation infrastructure for Iraq according to Maj. Scott D. Meyer, Strategic Mobility – IRR Program Officer, Multi-National Force-Iraq. Meyer said that Iraq has a geographic advantage to turn it into a hub for moving cargo from the port at Umm Qasr to Turkey, Syria and Jordan. The rail lines themselves are in good repair and Iraq has experienced operators for running the trains, Meyer added.

Meyer said that the IRR and Iraqi Transportation Network, a consortium of all Iraqi owned trucking companies, are working together to move cargo efficiently. Where the ITN is responsible for short-haul of cargo and the IRR is responsible for long-haul.

“Trucks are more efficient with short-haul and trains are more efficient with the long haul,” Meyer said. As part of the Tuesday’s rail operation, ITN trucks delivered the 40 containers eventually uploaded on IRR rail cars.

In addition to demonstrating transportation infrastructure progress, these initial small rail movements will eventually prove the IRR is ready for regular transportation of cargo added Meyer. He stated as the IRR moves more and more cargo for both the Iraqis and Coalition forces it offers the option to move Iraqi transporters and Coalition forces off Iraq’s roads.

Upon arrival in Umm Qasr, the IRR will load cargo and move it back through Iraq.

Sustainers and transportation experts from the 10th Sustainment Brigade provided partnership and planning for the Tuesday’s operation. Maj. Peter P. Vien, Brigade Engineer, 10th Sust. Bde. said that coordination involved all echelons of command starting at MNF-I, through the 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), the 10th Sust. Bde.’s higher command.

“I think it was very successful, because this will be the first time we had the Iraqis come into Taji and pick-up stuff and move it out, Vien said.

MNF-I