In this case, hundreds of up-armored Humvees were loaded onto railcars at the manufacturer and delivered directly via rail to the APM Terminals Virginia facility in Portsmouth, which currently features six on-dock rail tracks, with potential expansion to twelve. APM Terminals Virginia is the largest privately-owned ocean terminal in North America.
Once at the dock, the Humvees were placed on flat-racks and lifted directly onto one of MLL's US flag container ships, part of the weekly Middle East Container Line (MECL) service, ensuring that these vital vehicles quickly departed for their destination.
Traditional delivery and loading of military ocean cargo to seaports often employs diesel-powered trucks to move Humvees and other vehicles in small batches from their point of origin to the ocean terminal, where they are offloaded, transferred to flatracks if necessary, and then stowed aboard a ship.
With direct-to-dock rail, cargo is loaded aboard railcars in larger batches at its point of origin, moved directly to a seaport via rail, then stowed aboard a ship for transit. This process increases operational efficiency by streamlining the flow of cargo from its source to the terminal, protects cargo by reducing handling and reduces emissions by eliminating multiple trips by over-the-road trucks.
