>>U.S. Navy Retracts Denial of Arms Shipment to Gulf
Last Updated: August 13, 2002 02:25 PM ET
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By Stefano Ambrogi
LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy confirmed on Tuesday it was seeking a large
ship to carry helicopters and arms from the United States to the Red Sea, a day after
denying it had placed such an order.
The request, following a recent order for a vessel to carry military hardware from
Europe to the Middle East, has heightened speculation that the United States is
pre-positioning equipment for a possible strike on Iraq.
Monday a U.S. Navy spokesman denied a Reuters report that Military Sealift
Command (MSC) had placed the order, but when presented with documentary
evidence, MSC spokeswoman Trish Larson confirmed Tuesday there had indeed
been a tender.
"There is a request for proposals from private industry to provide a roll-on roll-off
ship," she told Reuters.
These ships, and oil tankers to carry military jet fuel and marine diesel oil, will top the
U.S. military's most wanted list of vessels if war breaks out. The charter for a vessel
to carry 48,000 square feet of helicopters, ammunition and assorted "rolling stock"
will load at two ports in the southeastern United States and discharge at two Red
Sea ports in late August, the order shows.
The square footage is roughly equivalent to a soccer field.
Brokers and commercial shipping sources said the ports were most likely to be in
Saudi Arabia or Yemen.
Oil prices jumped Monday after the Reuters report and market brokers cited
increased concerns of a military build-up in the region.
"PLANNED FOR TWO YEARS"
The Military Sealift Command is the agency responsible for shipping the bulk of
equipment used during the 1991 Gulf War.
Shipping brokers who chartered ships to MSC then said the recent order, with a
cargo covering an area of 38,000 square feet and with the heaviest item at 50 tons,
was most likely to be carrying tanks and armored vehicles.
Navy Commander Dan Keesee at U.S. Central Command in Florida did not link the
activity to any build-up for U.S. attack on Iraq, and said the chartering of the second
ship had been planned for two years.
"Central Command charters ships on a regular basis and this is a routine matter,"
Keesee told Reuters Tuesday.
Military and naval analysts have told Reuters there are tentative signs the United
States has begun to move military supplies to the Gulf for some kind of operation
against Iraq, although movements are at nothing like the rate needed to wage a
full-scale war.
There are other signs the United States could be readying to shift more material.
Last week the U.S. Department of Defense awarded a massive contract to
U.S.-based Maersk Line, part of Danish shipping giant Maersk Sealand, to run eight
ships capable of carrying ammunition, tanks and ambulances.
The Pentagon said the ships will be positioned around the Diego Garcia military base
in the Indian Ocean but must be deployable worldwide. <<
reuters.com |
