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National Defense Role » Defense Programs

The trend toward larger, containerized vessel fleets with smaller crew complements has presented the nation's defense needs with a considerable challenge. As previously noted, although competitive factors have driven the movement toward containerized cargoes, military requirements frequently dictate the need for less efficient, but more militarily useful break-bulk vessels. Break-bulk vessels, in turn, necessitate a higher crew complement equipped with a different repertoire of seafaring skills. The challenge facing our nation's defense infrastructure is to craft a maritime policy that will enhance the competitiveness of the U.S.-flag fleet during times of peace while concurrently accommodating our national defense needs during times of conflict. The government has responded to this challenge by developing an innovative array of programs designed to address the conflicting demands of commercial competitiveness and the logistics of national security.

Today U.S. strategic sealift needs for surge and sustainment shipping are being met with a mélange of active U.S.-flag merchant ships, commercial ships under long-term charter to the military, and Ready Reserve Force vessels under private commercial management contracts and crewed by citizen mariners.

Maritime Security Program

Enacted in 1996 as Public Law 104-239, the Maritime Security Program (MSP) provides for a fleet of militarily useful U.S.-flag commercial vessels, crewed by U.S. citizens that can be immediately called upon during national defense contingencies. The ten-year program, designed to replace the Operating Differential Subsidy program at less than half the cost, establishes a fleet of 47 U.S.-flag vessels engaged in the waterborne commerce of the United States. Eligible vessels may be built in the United States or in another country, and are subject to one-year renewable contracts. Funding for the program (approximately $97 million/year at its enactment) is subject to annual appropriations from Congress.

In 2004, the 108th Congress enacted the Maritime Security Act of 2003 which expanded on the Maritime Security Program by increasing the fleet from 47 to 60 vessels. The new ten-year program also calls for increased funding subject to annual appropriations (approximately $156 million at its enactment and increased to $174 million in 2010).

The program demonstrates the United States' continued recognition of the vital role the U.S. maritime industry assumes in our nation's national defense infrastructure. During times of peace, these vessels ply our deep-sea international trades, generating jobs for U.S. citizens while generating income for maritime carriers and tax revenue for the government. When called upon by the government, participating vessel operators are required to make their ships and other commercial transportation resources available to the Department of Defense.
As noted by military logisticians and defense planners, the MSP fleet provides our nation with a significant security asset at a substantially lower cost. DOD officials have testified that it would need more than $10 billion in capital costs and $1 billion in annual operations costs to replicate what the Maritime Security Program provides at a fraction of the cost. Furthermore, a 2006 National Defense Transportation Association report entitled “The Role of Commercial Shipping Initiatives in Military Sealift “affirms that the cost to the U.S. Government to replicate the vessels provided for by the MSP was estimated at $13 billion.  An additional $52 billion would be needed to replicate the assets.”
The following maritime operators were participating in the Maritime Security Program fleet as of January 2011:

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Office of Sealift Support, 2010

VISA

The Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) is a standby agreement intended to make commercial, intermodal, dry cargo capacity and supporting global infrastructure available to meet the "contingency deployment" requirements of the Department of Defense. VISA calls for comprehensive and integrated peacetime planning and exercises -- something not done before the Gulf War. The Maritime Administration, U.S. Transportation Command (and its sealift-related strategic mobility elements, the Navy's Military Sealift Command and the Army's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command), and the U.S. intermodal ocean carrier industry and maritime labor are now motivated to devise arrangements that will meet Defense Department deployment requirements from existing commercial services to the maximum extent possible without causing serious disruption of normal services and contracts.

Modeled after the U.S. Air Force Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program, VISA allows carriers to continue to serve commercial commitments and provide support -- ships and trained crews, truck and rail transport, logistics planners and worldwide distribution networks, satellite communications, cargo-tracking systems, full in-transit visibility, and supporting systems -- in three stages depending upon the severity and expected duration of the contingency. The level of contractual commitment of capacity at each of the three stages will determine, in part, a carrier's participation in the carriage of Defense Department and other U.S. government peacetime cargo. This will also obviate the need to look for the cheapest supplier in an emergency and will ensure that the plans and procedures are in place to integrate efficiently and effectively national defense and contingency sealift requirements into the commercial system. By relying on the U.S.-flag fleet, the military receives, at no additional cost, access to a total global intermodal network of vessels, infrastructure, terminals, equipment, and 20,000 well-trained and motivated seafarers and 22,000 shoreside employees located around the world.

The VISA program is divided into three phases based upon the amount of capacity committed to military cargo upon demand. The most intensive phase, referred to as Stage III, requires participants to commit at least 50 percent of their non-MSP vessel capability and 100 percent of their MSP vessel assets. More than 80 percent of the militarily useful U.S.-flag dry cargo fleet are participants in the VISA Stage III program.

The VISA program is closely aligned with the Maritime Security Program. Of those vessels participating in the VISA Stage III program, 70 percent are enrolled in the MSP program as well.

As of December 2011, the following vessel operators were participating in the VISA program having enrolled approximately 125 vessels:

A Way To Move, Inc.
American International Shipping, LLC*                                              
American President Lines, Ltd.
American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier, LLC
APL Marine Services, Ltd.*
APL Maritime Ltd
Argent Marine Operations, Inc.*
Beyel Brothers Inc.                    
Central Gulf Lines, Inc.*
Columbia Coastal Transport, LLC                   
CRC Marine Services, Inc.
Crimson Shipping Co., Inc.
Crowley Puerto Rico Services, Inc.  
Crowley Marine Services, Inc.
Dann Marine Towing, LC              
Farrell Lines Incorporated*
Fidelio Limited Partnership* 
Foss International, Inc.                             
Foss Maritime Company
Hapag-Lloyd USA, LLC*                      
Horizon Lines LLC      
Laborde Marine, L.L.C.
Liberty Global Logistics, LLC*
Liberty Shipping Group LLC     
Lockwood Brothers, Inc.
Lynden Incorporated                                       
Maersk Line, Limited*
Marine Transport Management
Matson Navigation Company, Inc.       
McAllister Towing and Transportation Co., Inc.                       
McCulley Marine Services, Inc.
National Shipping of America, LLC
Northcliffe Ocean Shipping & Trading Company
Northland Services, Inc.
Patriot Titan, LLC
Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines LLC                                          
Patriot Shipping, L.L.C.*
Red River Holdings LLC
Resolve Towing & Salvage, Inc.                      
Samson Tug & Barge Company, Inc. 
Schuyler Line Navigation Company
Sea Star Line, LLC               
SeaTac Marine Services, LLC 
Seabridge, Inc.             
Sealift Inc.
Stevens Towing Co., Inc.
Stevens Transportation, LLC
Superior Maritime Services, Inc.                                     
Teras BBC Ocean Navigation Enterprises Houston, LLC   
Totem Ocean Trailer Express
Trailer Bridge, Inc.
TransAtlantic Lines, LLC                                 
Western Towboat Company                                                        
Waterman Steamship Corporation*                 

* Denotes Maritime Security Program operators

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Office of Sealift Support, 2008 

Military Sealift Command

The Military Sealift Command, under the direct authority and direction of the Secretary of the Navy, operates some 110 predominantly non-combatant vessels under the auspices of four general programs - the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force, Special Missions, Prepositioning, and Sealift. Each program is designed to serve a specific and often unique defensive need.

Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force (NFAF)
The NFAF is a fleet of over 43 ships, manned by civil service crews, which provide direct support for Navy combat vessels. The NFAF is responsible for a variety of support services including the delivery of food, fuel, parts, ammunition and underway replenishment. Some of the NFAF ships are capable of providing ocean towing and salvage services. Each of the vessels in the NFAF carries a contingency of 4 to 45 Navy personnel.

A unique component of the NFAF are two hospital ships, the USNS COMFORT and MERCY. These ships are normally maintained in a five-day readiness status, and when fully activated carry 1,200 Navy medical personnel and a crew complement of some 60 civil service mariners. Each of these ships is equipped with 12 operating rooms and can treat up to 1,000 patients.

Special Missions
The Special Missions program involves some 29 government-owned vessels that are designed to meet specific mission objectives. The vessels are manned by either civil service crews or under contractual agreements with private sector maritime operators. The services provided by this program are diverse, ranging from oceanographic surveys of the ocean environment, cable-laying, missile research and range instrumentation, and ocean surveillance among other activities. In addition to these government-owned, civilian crewed vessels, the Military Sealift Command charters six vessels to perform assignments such as deep water search and rescue and navy submarine test support escorts.

Prepositioning Program
The Prepositioning Program, consisting of 33 civilian-manned vessels, is a core element of the Navy's forward force strategy. These vessels are loaded with military supplies to sustain forward deployed Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine units, and are segregated into three distinct divisions.

Nine vessels comprise the Combat Prepositioning Force and are deployed in the Arabian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific. The force is designed to support Army operations, and carry enough combat material, food, water and other essentials to sustain two Army heavy brigades, including 6,000 soldiers for 30 days.

Another 15 vessels make up the Maritime Prepositioning Force whose mission is to support a Marine Corps Air/Ground Task Force of up to 51,000 marines. These vessels are prepositioned in the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean and the southwest Pacific.

Lastly, nine vessels comprise the Logistic Prepositioning Force that serve Air Force, Navy and Defense Logistics Agency needs, three vessels are loaded with precision Air Force munitions, three carry 600,000 barrels of fuel for the Defense Logistics Agency, and one serves as a Navy field hospital.

The Prepositioning Program is also responsible for managing two aviation support vessels that serve as mobile Marine Corps aircraft maintenance facilities. These two vessels are maintained in a five-day readiness status.

Dry cargo contracts are let out to private U.S.-flag commercial liner operators to transport most peacetime Department of Defense transport needs. There remains a small percent of dry cargo shipments, particularly non-containerized cargo, requiring activating ships from its government-owned surge fleet. The mix of cargo is widely varied, ranging from construction equipment, military vehicles and aircraft to ammunition.

Eleven Large, Medium-Speed, Roll-On/Roll-Off Ships (LMSRs) provide reliable surge sealift capacity and are government-owned, but contractor-operated. Each of the 11 LMSR vessels is capable of lifting more than 300,000 square feet of cargo and can travel at up to 24 knots. Each ship is capable of carrying the equipment requirements of an Army air assault or armored battalion of 1,000 soldiers. Strategically fitted with side ports, movable ramps, and having several cranes provides these versatile ships with the ability to deliver its heavy cargo by lightering to barges or to port areas having inoperable or non-existent shoreside cranes.  

Ready Reserve Force

The United States Department of Transportation Maritime Administration maintains a total of 51 vessels in the Ready Reserve Force fleet. The Ready Reserve Force was conceived in 1976 by virtue of an agreement between the Department of Defense and the Maritime Administration. The fleet is composed of a militarily useful mix of breakbulk, RO/RO, heavy lift, tanker, LASH, troopships and crane ships. The vessels are outported on the East, West and Gulf coasts, and are maintained in a high state of readiness, capable of being activated in 5 to 10 days. In order to ensure readiness, the Maritime Administration regularly exercises activation trials to test the vessels under operating conditions. Those vessels in the highest state of readiness (5 day activation) are maintained in a Reduced Operating Status (ROS) by a civilian crew of 9 to 10 mariners. Eight Fast Sealift Ships were transferred from active service to Marad by TRANSCOM in 2008 to be maintained as ROS vessels. The Fast Sealift Ships are capable of moving cargo at up to 30 knots, ensuring a rapid delivery of defense materials when needed. The vessels are RO/RO in design, and are equipped with onboard cranes and self-contained ramps to ensure cargo delivery in any environment. These 11 vessels, along with 36 other RRF vessels are maintained in a 5-day readiness status by the Maritime Administration. When activated, the Military Sealift Command assumes operational responsibility and authority for these supply-logistic support ships and they are fully crewed with civilian mariners.

The Ready Reserve Force is funded from the Navy-controlled National Defense Sealift Fund, not through the Department of Transportation's budget as it has in the past, although the RRF Program will continue to be managed by the Maritime Administration. On average, respectively, it costs about $4.5 million and $2-$2.5 million per ship, per year to maintain in a 5 and 10-day readiness status.  The Navy expects such funding will ensure that readiness levels are sustained and that sealift surge requirements can be effectively met.
In October 2009, the following nine ship management companies held contracts to maintain the Ready Reserve Force fleet:

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Office of Ship Operations, 2009

National Defense Reserve Fleet

The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) is a government-owned collection of vessels originally established in 1946 to absorb surplus vessels used during World War II, and intended for activation during national emergencies. As of August 30, 2008, the NDRF fleet totaled 212 vessels. The deep lay-up vessels in the NDRF are maintained in three reserve fleet sites: James River Reserve Fleet at Ft. Eustis, VA; Beaumont Reserve Fleet at Beaumont, TX; and Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet at Benicia, CA. Older vessels in the NDRF, including many from World War II, are being systematically scrapped. NDRF vessels have been used as museums, transferred to state agencies to be sunk as artificial fish reefs, and used for military and civilian training.

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