Aid for Gaza was being loaded onto US-flagged container ship Sagamore (IMO 9322009) in Cyprus on Wednesday May 8th. The intention was that it would be the first cargo to be delivered using a US pier that has been built to help in the provision of supplies.
“As of today, the construction of the two portions of the JLOTS — the floating pier and the Trident pier — are complete and awaiting final movement offshore,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said this week.
The Sagamore was docked at the port of Larnaca, but it was not clear when the vessel would depart. One hurdle still to be jumped is that, although the construction of the pier has been completed, it is in the wrong place – Ashdod, Israel, rather than where the supplies will be delivered to Gaza. Rough surface conditions forced the operation to relocate to sheltered water at the Port of Ashdod, but the water-side preparatory work is now complete.
The US is hoping to move it to off the coast of Gaza later this week.
The complex operation will use the US’s Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) facility. JLOTS is an Army/Navy/civilian mariner system that links sealift with temporary port infrastructure. A 1,000-person team will be able to transfer food aid from a commercial sealift vessel onto a moored receiving barge out at sea; transfer the cargo onto US Army landing craft; ferry the goods to a mile-long floating causeway, also known as a trident pier, and then carry the food by lorry to a nearby distribution hub
American service members will not be involved in the shoreside transfers. There have been reports that the UK military might step up for the land-based operations.
Sagamore will unload its cargo directly onto Army trucks at the floating pier, and the trucks will carry it the rest of the way via the JLOTS infrastructure. It will not be a pure ro/ro operation, although JLOTS is capable of compatibility with ro/ro sealift.
According to the Pentagon, the system eventually will be capable of handling 150 truckloads of food a day. The Pentagon’s Singh said that “I think what you’re going to see at the very beginning is a ‘crawl, walk, run’ scenario. We’re going to start with an additional small amount of aid trucks to flow in to make sure that the system works, that the distribution works, and then you’ll see that increase … when we get to full operational capacity.”
A senior Biden administration official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said last month that aid coming off the US pier will need to pass through Israeli checkpoints on land. That is despite the aid having already been inspected by Israel in Cyprus prior to being shipped to Gaza. This raises the possibility of delays even after aid reaches shore.
Cyprus opened a sea corridor in March to ship aid directly to Gaza. US-based charity World Food Kitchen used the route twice before seven of its workers, in more than one location, were killed by Israeli air strikes at the beginning of April.
2008-built, USA-flagged, 16,803 gt Sagamore is owned and managed by Sealift Inc of Oyster Bay, New York, USA. It is entered with London Club on behalf of Sealift Inc. As of May 9th the vessel was underway in the Eastern Mediterranean, west of Tel Aviv, Israel, having left Larnaca on May 9th, awaiting orders.