Navy Visual News Service

Story by Jason Morris

MONROVIA, Liberia – The Liberian harbor of Greenville recently reopened for use after Dutch and U.S. naval survey teams completed joint hydrographic surveys of its waterways, clearing the way for future commercial traffic to begin using the harbor again.

With a recent ship capsizing in the harbor, along with outdated hydrographic surveys and poor road conditions, the port of Greenville had been closed to all maritime traffic, leaving resupply missions solely in the hands of helicopters. Now, with the recent survey and findings given to the United Nations contingent in that area, the local populace and United Nations military detachment there are again able to be resupplied by sea.

"Working together with the fleet survey team from the United States has been very rewarding," said Royal Netherlands navy Lt. Peter Van Poppel, hydrographic survey officer. "We have shared our knowledge, our equipment and our experiences. These surveys will ensure that Liberian nautical charts are up to date and will show the commercial shipping industry when and where it is safe to navigate in these waters. This will directly impact commerce within the country."

Both the Dutch and U.S. survey teams are currently embarked aboard the Royal Netherlands Navy amphibious ship HNLMS Johan de Witt for Africa Partnership Station. APS focuses on building cooperative partnerships with regional maritime services in order to achieve common international goals such as stability and security.

"Some of the Liberian nautical charts date back to 1900 and are no longer relevant," said Lt. Steve McIntyre, U.S. Navy hydrographic officer attached to APS. "Normally, our team is shore-based, and having the opportunity to be based from Johan de Witt has allowed us to survey new ports that were not previously available to us."

The week-long, joint surveys in Liberia focused on the harbors of Buchanan, Greenville and Monrovia. Technologies, such as motion reference, multi-beam echo sounding and precise GPS positioning were used to paint a complete picture of each harbor's sea floor. The teams also installed tide gauges to document the ever-changing levels of tides in each harbor. The surveys generated data necessary to produce up-to-date navigational charts, making each harbor more accessible to commercial maritime traffic, in turn contributing to each harbor's economic development and maritime safety. Although the Greenville harbor is reopened for use, the port must await commercial industry verification prior to allowing commercial traffic in.

APS brings an international team of maritime experts including elements from Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United States to offer assistance in addressing maritime safety and security challenges such as unlawful, unregulated and illegal fishing, piracy and illicit trafficking.

While in the Liberian coastal waters, APS instructors aboard Johan de Witt continued training 31 African maritime professionals from Senegal and Sierra Leone. Classroom interaction and hands-on, skill building exercises make up the main agenda for these maritime professionals. Topics covered include small boat maintenance, small boat operations, maritime law enforcement, damage control, computer software applications and advanced first aid training.

The APS Johan de Witt deployment began in September and will run through November and encompass stops in Cape Verde, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Johan de Witt, a landing platform dock amphibious ship homeported in Den Helder, Netherlands, is the first non-U.S. ship to execute an APS deployment.

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