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Military Sealift Command-chartered container ship MV Ocean Giant has arrived Port Hueneme, Calif., following its mission to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze (ODF) 2022.
The stop in Port Hueneme marks the end of Ocean Giant’s support of ODF. While in Port Hueneme, Ocean Giant will conduct cargo offload of retrograde materials—including station waste and recyclables, returned from McMurdo station, as well as ice-core samples that will be used in scientific study. Ocean Giant was in Antarctica as part of MSC’s annual resupply mission in support of the Joint Task Force Support for Antarctica mission to the NSF-managed U.S. Antarctic Program.
A team from MSC, including Navy Reservists from MSC’s Expeditionary Port Unit (EPU) 114, will coordinated all aspects of the offload of the containers.
The offload is the final step in Ocean Giant’s support of ODF. Their mission began in late December, with a loadout of dry cargo in Port Hueneme, Calif., where the cargo was loaded before delivery to Antarctica. The ship arrived at the NSF ice-pier, where the cargo offload was conducted by Seabees from Navy Cargo Handling Battalion ONE beginning the following day. Over a 14-day period, 503 pieces of cargo that include containers filled with mechanical parts, vehicles, construction materials, office supplies and electronics equipment, and also a modular building; was transferred from the ship. In total, the ship delivered 80 percent of the supplies needed the year’s survival at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
“This year’s ODF mission was a great success for MSC,” said Leonard Bell, deputy commander, Military Sealift Command Pacific. “The mission presented unique challenges that the crews of out ships and our team on the ground handled flawlessly. The mission is an example of the true professionalism and dedication to duty that our entire team exemplifies over and over again. We are truly proud to have supported ODF 2022, and we look forward to our continued support to the National Science Foundation in the years ahead.”
Operation Deep Freeze is a joint service, on-going Defense Support to Civilian Authorities activity in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program. Mission support consists of active duty, Guard and Reserve personnel from the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army, and Coast Guard as well as Department of Defense civilians and attached non-DOD civilians. ODF operates from two primary locations situated at Christchurch, New Zealand and McMurdo Station, Antarctica. 2022 marks MSC’s return to support of ODF which was paused in 2021 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. An MSC-chartered cargo ship and tanker have made the challenging voyage to Antarctica every year since the station and its resupply mission were established in 1955.
| Date Taken: | 03.25.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2022 15:51 |
| Story ID: | 417203 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 156 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, MSC Chartered Ship MV Ocean Giant Arrives in Port Hueneme for Final Operation Deep Freeze Off-Load, by Sarah Cannon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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