Army prepares to move more than 1,000 pieces of equipment through Romanian port

Photo By Sgt. Laurie Ellen Wash | Vehicles are prepared to drive onto a train heading for Germany at the port of Constanta, Romania, July 1, 2019. While Romanian workers drove the vehicles onto the train, a crane lifted all the containers with non-rolling stock. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Laurie Ellen Schubert, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)  

CONSTANTA, ROMANIA

07.01.2019

Story by Pvt. Laurie Ellen Wash 

5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment   

CONSTANTA, Romania-- At the Port of Constanta, Romania, U.S. Soldiers, along with Romanian, American and British civilian workers, worked together July 1, 2019, to prepare for redeployment to home stations following summer exercises across the European theater.
This included preparing customs inspections for shipments of vehicles and equipment back to the United States. Any shipment leaving the country has to pass inspections after a biocleaning, a thorough cleaning of equipment and the interior and exterior of vehicles.
This biocleaning is important for ensuring any potential contaminants or foreign species do not get inadvertently transported across borders.
“Our goal is to prevent any invasive species, pests and agricultural contaminants from entering the U.S.,” Said Robert K. Walters, who works for the Customs Executive Agency for U.S. Army Europe Headquarters. “Every nook, every cranny gets checked for dirt, insects and vegetation.”
Biocleanings occur whenever materials ship out from, and return to, the United States.
Soldiers were mainly in charge of power washing their individual equipment while Romanian civilian workers power washed the vehicles. Movement control teams tracked which pieces of equipment had been biocleaned and passed customs and made sure they were staged separately in sterile lots.
Together, they prepared for a shipment leaving to Germany that same day, and two other shipments of more than 1,000 pieces of equipment leaving for the United States over the next few weeks.

• Date Taken: 07.01.2019
• Date Posted: 07.02.2019 07:29
• Story ID: 330052
• Location: CONSTANTA, RO