The cargo, including fully functional Blackhawk and Apache helicopters, served US troops in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. The M/V FREEDOM arrived at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal during the evening of November 7, with discharge of the cargo commencing on the morning of Tuesday, November 8. About 50 members of the Philadelphia ILA assisted SDDC personnel during the course of the discharge operation, which lasted from 9:00 a.m. to about 6:00 p.m.
The cargo discharged at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal by the SDDC’s 841st Transportation Battalion was used by the Army’s 10th Combat Aviation Brigade in Afghanistan. Now that the cargo has been offloaded onto the terminal, it will be transported to the Army’s Fort Drum facility in northern New York State, the Aviation Brigade’s home base. Helicopters discharged from the vessel are now being reassembled at the terminal and will be flown to that location over the course of the next few days.
“The return of military cargo and equipment has always been a dramatic sight in the past, and it was equally so during this most recent re-deployment,” said PRPA Executive Director James T. McDermott, Jr. “While we are very happy for the jobs and economic impact this busy operation brought to our largest marine terminal, what was most gratifying was once again having the opportunity to see our workforce expertly and respectfully handle this equipment that has capably served on our nation’s first line of defense.”
The Port of Philadelphia was designated a Strategic Military Seaport in 2002, and since then has handled dozens of major military shipments. Mitch Chandran, an SDDC official who traveled to Philadelphia to witness the operation, said, “As our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to draw down, shipments like this one will become more frequent as our personnel and their equipment return home.”
