The successful completion of the eight-day massive naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal -- ‘Malabar-2017’ -- has shown the world the combined strength of the naval forces of three big nations – India, Japan and the US.
But, a very few people knew that the logistical support for the entire event has been provided by a small port located in Kakinada.
As many as 18 different types of tugs, crew boats and utility vessels, six barges and two security boats coupled with a trained workforce of 200 personnel from the city left for Chennai to take care of the backend support to the domestic and international naval crews.
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The first four days were allotted for the harbour phase in Chennai, while the last four days were for a diverse range of operational activities in the sea by three aircraft carriers -- the INS Vikramaditya, the JS Izumo and the USS Nimitz – accompanied by a good number of cutting edge destroyers, frigates, anti-submarine ships, AWACS aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft and a range of fighter aircraft.
If the event gets translated into the number of guests, it includes over 7,500 sailors, officers and top gun pilots of the ships.
A huge marine logistics management effort has gone into managing the event in which over 5,000 officers and sailors from ships and aircraft carriers that were anchored many miles away from Chennai Port were being brought from ship to shore on a daily basis. Besides taking care of their hospitality, supply of fresh water, removal of hundreds of tonnes of garbage, supply of stores and material was taken care of.
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It also required various marine assets like a variety of barges and brows and a number of sturdy and safe liberty boats to ferry the personnel for ship to shore to ships.
The only port
“Many people are unaware of the fact that Kakinada is the only port in the east coast that can provide logistical support for any marine event. This time, the city-based San Marine has taken care of the logistical support at the ‘Malabar-2017’ by deputing adequate number of trained personnel and deploying the infrastructure for the backend support,” Dharma Sastha Kandula, Port Officer, has told The Hindu. “Undertaking massive logistic operations 24X7 for eight days required a mammoth exercise. We are very happy that we have successfully completed the task,” says Sheik Alisha, Managing Director of the San Marine the firm that also provided logistical support to the ‘International Fleet Review-2016’ held in Visakhapatnam.