Container Management During Desert Shield/Storm: An Analysis and Critique of Lessons Learned
Abstract
From the earliest days of ocean commerce until the early 1960s, the method of loading and accounting for cargo aboard ships changed very little-- cargo was lifted aboard one piece at a time and manually documented. With the innovation of the shipping container, transportation efficiency vastly improved. Rapid loading and automated documentation were two of the reasons for the increased efficiency. For a variety of reasons, the military has lagged behind the commercial transportation industry in the use of containers. As a result, the military lacks a viable method of determining container content using documentation alone. This inability to determine container content was demonstrated in the port of Dammam during Desert Shield/Storm. Of the 40,000 containers in the port, 25,000 required opening to determine their contents.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 15, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA264488
Entities
People
- Clark Hall
- Vincent Bernhard
Organizations
- United States Army War College