NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –
Every March, the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Headquarters Transportation Team works with Surface Deployment and Distribution Command on DLA/FEMA requirements to prepare a solicitation to the carrier industry for disaster support rates. When FEMA requirements are sent, the team utilizes the carriers and rates from this solicitation to quickly position supplies at the FEMA staging locations.
As two major hurricanes recently ravaged parts of the U.S. the transportation team was able to test their skills. The challenges faced by the team include finding enough carrier resources to carry loads as FEMA has competing requirements that tap into those resources as well as private and charitable organizations all working to get supplies to the affected areas.
The volume of meals ordered for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma has made scheduling transportation of 30 million commercial and five million military meals challenging. To date, nearly 1,100 trucks have transported shelf-stable meals, bottled water, cots, medical kits, toddler kits, tarps, sheeting to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas; Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; and Ellenworth, Georgia, and more are scheduled to continuing shipping through next week.
“Some unique challenges during this period have been subsistence vendors who ran out of product and were unable to meet their loading schedules and subsistence vendors who were in the path of Irma and had to evacuate and abandon their loading schedules,” said DLA Distribution supervisory traffic management specialist, Sherri Troup. “Our team has worked through the last two weekends to schedule these shipments including Labor Day weekend.”
The transportation team has shown true resiliency and extraordinary dedication.