MTMC TO HANDLE EXPLOSIVES FOR COMMERCIAL SHIPPERS

MTMC TO HANDLE EXPLOSIVES FOR COMMERCIAL SHIPPERS    The U.S. Army’s Military Traffic Management Command has created a new pilot program to handle explosives for commercial shippers.
   The program, authorized by Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera on April 5, allows MTMC’s Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point in Southport, N.C., to provide loading and discharge of commercial explosives shipments. MTMC will test the program for two years.
   “Commercial explosives may be moved safely from a fully certified and safe facility and the Army will recoup some of its terminal operating costs,” said Maj. Gen. Kenneth L. Privratsky, commander of MTMC.
   Shippers using the facility would be required to pay the Army premium commercial shipping rates, the agency said. Sunny Point is a key ammunition shipping point on the Atlantic Coast for the Defense Department, handling about 60 ships a year.