- 8-14-2
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "There is a request for proposals from private industry
to provide a roll-on roll-off ship," she told Reuters.
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- 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.
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- The square footage is roughly equivalent to a soccer
field.
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- Brokers and commercial shipping sources said the ports
were most likely to be in Saudi Arabia or Yemen.
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- Oil prices jumped Monday after the Reuters report and
market brokers cited increased concerns of a military build-up in the region.
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- "PLANNED FOR TWO YEARS"
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- The Military Sealift Command is the agency responsible
for shipping the bulk of equipment used during the 1991 Gulf War.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "Central Command charters ships on a regular basis
and this is a routine matter," Keesee told Reuters Tuesday.
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- 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.
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- There are other signs the United States could be readying
to shift more material.
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- 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.
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- The Pentagon said the ships will be positioned around
the Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean but must be deployable
worldwide.
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- Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.
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