Editor’s note: Click on images above to view in high resolution.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Two U.S. Coast Guard petty officers are part of a team that assists service members with the proper declaration, classification, labeling and packaging of shipping containers leaving Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq.

Petty Officers First Class Alfred Jurison, from Waipahu, Hawaii, and Eric Sobczak, from Chesapeake, Va., assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment helped with the inspection.

“We are advisors, we don’t enforce any regulations,” said Sobczak, a marine science technician. “We want to make sure the containers get back home safely.”

Many units ship hazardous materials but the RAID team makes sure that the items are properly loaded, labeled correctly, and the container is safe to carry the cargo.

The team evaluates the containers to ensure each one is seaworthy to cut down on possible problems during the journey home. Once it is determined that the container can safely make the journey to the U.S., the petty officers confirm that all of the numbers on the containers match their records. When the container is approved it receives an inspection sticker that is good for 30 months.

“Shipping containers without proper documentation may slow down the process at its port of entry,” Sobczak said. “It is rewarding helping Army units get home.”

RAID was established in 2003 and is responsible for assisting the Department of Defense with the safe redeployment of containerized cargo. The detachment supports U.S. Army Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and is embedded with the 840^th Transportation Battalion, under the 595^th Transportation Brigade.

Editor’s note: Click on images above to view in high resolution.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Two U.S. Coast Guard petty officers are part of a team that assists service members with the proper declaration, classification, labeling and packaging of shipping containers leaving Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq.

Petty Officers First Class Alfred Jurison, from Waipahu, Hawaii, and Eric Sobczak, from Chesapeake, Va., assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment helped with the inspection.

“We are advisors, we don’t enforce any regulations,” said Sobczak, a marine science technician. “We want to make sure the containers get back home safely.”

Many units ship hazardous materials but the RAID team makes sure that the items are properly loaded, labeled correctly, and the container is safe to carry the cargo.

The team evaluates the containers to ensure each one is seaworthy to cut down on possible problems during the journey home. Once it is determined that the container can safely make the journey to the U.S., the petty officers confirm that all of the numbers on the containers match their records. When the container is approved it receives an inspection sticker that is good for 30 months.

“Shipping containers without proper documentation may slow down the process at its port of entry,” Sobczak said. “It is rewarding helping Army units get home.”

RAID was established in 2003 and is responsible for assisting the Department of Defense with the safe redeployment of containerized cargo. The detachment supports U.S. Army Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and is embedded with the 840^th Transportation Battalion, under the 595^th Transportation Brigade.

NORFOLK, Va. — The Coast Guard, along with federal, state and local agencies conducted a multi-agency strike force operation at Hampton Roads port facilities Wednesday and Thursday.

The focus of the operation was to promote awareness and verify compliance with federal and state intermodal container, truck, air, rail and hazardous material safety regulations at the Norfolk International Terminal and APM Terminals.

The Coast Guard employed container inspectors, vessel boarding security teams, maritime security response teams and Coast Guard intelligence. Additional agencies that took part in the operation included: Customs and Border Protection, National Cargo Bureau, Transportation Security Administration, Virginia International Terminal Port Police, Chesapeake Police Department, Newport News Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security canine unit.

“This year we are doing something a little different,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Bryan Anderson, a marine-science technician in the port safety and security branch of Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads. “We conducted a DHS joint initiative known as Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response operation, in conjunction with MASFO, which included TSA, DHS and the local law enforcement community.”

The operation involved the inspection of trucks as they left the marine terminals with shipments from both domestic and international locations. Inspections included verifying proper truck and container documentation, structural integrity of shipping containers, licensing, customs and fuel tax compliance, and hazardous material markings, packaging and segregation.

“During MASFO we have higher chances to identify undeclared hazmat, improper shipments and containers not fit for sea service than during normal inspections,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Ximena Johnson, a Maritime Enforcement Specialist in the Port Safety and Security Branch of Sector Hampton Roads.

Operation team members discovered multiple container structural deficiencies that resulted in placing the containers on hold until the deficiencies were rectified.

Inspections on containers and trucks leaving the Port of Hampton Roads are frequently conducted by individual agencies focusing on a specific part of the inspection, but this MASFO is one in a series of similar initiatives conducted in ports nationwide since September 1998 that brings the agencies together and reduces the inspection time delay for cargo shipments.