Maritime Industry Delivers Aid and Supplies to Haiti
Maritime agencies and international governments send aid and supplies via sea, due to congestion and confusion at the Port-au-Prince airport.
In the devastating wake of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the 6.1 aftershock that rattled the city Wednesday morning, the U.S. government along with several international maritime agencies began sending humanitarian aid in cargo vessels to a port left in shambles. The first ship has finally docked at the eradicated harbor with much-needed supplies.
Observing Port-au-Prince’s crumbled infrastructure inland and the inordinate airport, the city’s harbor was the last frontier for receiving medical supplies, food, water and human aid. The first ship to dock at the port since the quake, Crimson Clover sent by a Catholic charity, arrived Tuesday with over 2,000 tonnes of food supplies from Mobile, Ala. Several other agencies were hesitant to deploy ships, unsure of how and where they would be received at one of Haiti’s most crucial supply routes. According to local reports, only about 228 meters of the port’s 1350 are deemed safe.
The French Navy vessel, Francis Garnier, docked shortly after Crimson Clover, carrying ambulances, diggers and about 60 soldiers. Underwater construction teams deployed by the United States Navy and French divers were expected to begin underwater inspection and obstruction removal to allow for ships to come in. More than 50 U.S. sailors were to be in the first team deployed, just a fraction of the thousands of Navy personnel in Haiti.
The United States Coast Guard has deployed four cutters, helicopters and planes in addition to doing medevacs and ferrying Americans out of the devastation. The Coast Guard Cutter Oak arrived in Haiti last Sunday with medical supplies, using one of the smaller piers to unload over 62,000 bottles of water, IVs, splints and medicines.
Besides the U.S. government, several maritime agencies are making cautious entrance to Haiti’s port. Crowley Maritime Corporation transported nearly 70 containers of supplies with water and ready-to-eat meals, en route to Port Rio Haina, about 100 miles from Port-au-Prince’s port. Antillean Marine Shipping, who had two ships at the Port-au-Prince pier when the earthquake hit last Tuesday, prepared over 30 cargo containers of donated food supplies ready to be shipped.
Local reports suggested more than 70 ships unloaded about 8,000 tons of material every month before the earthquake. The temblor caused monumental damage to the main pier, which splintered and fell into the sea along with 2 large toppled cranes, shipping containers and concrete pilings. An oil spill from a nearby petroleum pier has also tainted the harbor and access roads are cracked. A port architect estimated the port could take six months to repair and become operational.