New cargo pallet will save U.S. military $1.3 million

  • Published
  • By Bob Fehringer
  • U.S. Transportation Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFPN) --  A large shipment of merchandise sits near a loading dock behind the U.S. Transportation Command here. 

What makes this shipment different is that this shipment appears to be piled on a pallet which is also, on a pallet.

Another federal faux pas? 

No, this pallet sandwich is really a new cost-saving shipping system developed for the command responsible for moving all things military.

Called the associate intermodal platform, the system consists of an 82-inch by 10-inch by 8-inch rectangle of a linear low-density substance that resembles a large, black waffle. Cargo is loaded and tied down on the AIP. Then the whole package is loaded onto the familiar, silver 463L pallet. The resulting package is then ready to load for shipment.

Once in theater, the AIP, with cargo and netting attached, is off-loaded and sent to the final destination, while the pallet remains. The AIP can also be used to transport cargo with containers or alone.

According to USTRANSCOM transportation specialist David Blackford, this apparent redundancy was deemed necessary by transportation officials. 

“Because of combatant command requirements during contingencies and relief efforts, we send our 463L pallets and nets to the final destination (factory to foxhole),” Mr. Blackford said. “The 463L equipment either doesn’t get returned to the Defense Transportation System, or personnel use them for purposes not intended and, therefore, they get damaged.”

The silver slabs may make superb floors for tents in the field, but this type of misuse of pallets can add up to a huge expense for the government.

“The 463L pallet and net system cost $1,700 per set and the (proposed) cost of the AIP system is $400,” Blackford said. “This equates to a $1.3 million cost avoidance per 1,000 pallets sent to the theater. We send several thousand pallets to theater per month. We created the AIP to keep the 463L assets in the DTS and still meet the (combatant command) requirements for unitized cargo loads.”

While the current prototypes of the AIP system cost $970 each, the actual production cost will be $400 for the system, which has been in development more than two years.

“We received our first 120 AIP pallet and net sets at the end of September,” Mr. Blackford said. “We are currently developing the plan to operationally test the AIP at the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana (Texas).”   

(Courtesy of TRANSCOM News Service)