Military first to use the Huakai

SUBHEAD: The Superferry, as was suspected, finds itself used for military transport after all.


By Mike Holtzclaw on 27 January 2010 in the Daily Press - 
(http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-now-eustis-superferry.j27,0,6399746.story)

 
Image above: Still from video (see below) of military load-in of Hawaiian Superferry at Fort Eustis in Newport News, VA. From (http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-super-ferry-pg,0,3481330.photogallery)  

 The Superferry Huakai was loaded up at Fort Eustis today with equipment and soldiers bound for Haiti and the ongoing earthquake relief effort. The U.S. Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) will send its 597th Transportation Brigade to Port-au-Prince to deliver humanitarian supplies. In a press release, the SDDC noted that the Huakai "traditionally only moves passengers," but for this mission the Maritime Administration has given operational control of the vessel to the Military Sealift Command to deliver equipment and cargo as well as military personnel.  

NEWS FLASH: Thursday, January 28, 2010 "Austal Awarded $204 million to build 2nd and 3rd JHSV's"

Announced the day after the Huakai is used for the first time...by the military:

 CONTRACTS NAVY
Austal USA, Mobile Ala., is being awarded a $204,238,728 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-08-C-2217) to exercise options for Ships 2 and 3 of the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) program. The JHSV will provide high speed, shallow draft transportation capability to support the intra-theater maneuver of personnel, supplies, and equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps and Army. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala., and is expected to be completed by July 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.  

"Austal awarded $204 million to build second, third Joint High Speed Vessel"

 By Kaija Wilkinson January 28, 2010, 4:22PM
(http://blog.al.com/live/2010/01/austal_awarded_204_million_to.html)

The U.S. Navy has awarded $204.2 million to Mobile's Austal USA shipyard for the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) program, part of a potential 10-vessel, $1.6 billion contract Austal landed in November 2008, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, announced today. The funding will allow for construction of the second and third vessels, high-speed transport ferries that will be used by both the U.S. Army and Navy, according to Shelby's office. Austal began work on the first JHSV in December...

 See also:
Island Breath: The Superferry Redux 6/23/06
Island Breath: Superferry Hidden Agenda 10/13/06
Island Breath: The Superferry & US Military 10/23/06

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