MTMC RECEIVES CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL TO BEGIN REORGANIZATION

MTMC RECEIVES CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL TO BEGIN REORGANIZATION    Congress has approved plans for the U.S. Military Traffic Management Command to begin restructuring its operations.
   Starting Oct. 1, MTMC, the ocean and overland transportation logistics arm of the armed forces, will begin to reduce its organizational structure and standardize military and civilian staffing at its 24 ocean ports.
   “We need to do this to keep pace with changes in the transportation industry and to leverage efficiencies provided by automation,” said Maj. Gen. Kenneth L. Privratsky, MTMC commander who is leading the reorganization effort.
   “This is re-engineering that provides increased productivity and speed to our operations,” he added. “It reduces layering in our organization.”
   The agency plans to trim about 200 positions, or 8.5 percent of its 2,355 work force. The job cuts include military, civilian and foreign national employees. The cuts will be felt mostly in the centralization of MTMC supply, finance and personnel positions to MTMC’s headquarters in Alexandria, Va., and during shifts in staffing levels at the agency’s transportation units overseas.
   Other savings will result from consolidating liner documentation. The responsibility for documentation for container movements via commercial carriers will move to MTMC headquarters.
   Gen. Charles “Tony” Robertson, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Transportation Command, which oversees the operations of MTMC, Military Sealift Command and Air Mobility Command, praised MTMC’s move.
   “We’re all doing it,” Robertson said. “MTMC is just in the lead.”
   MTMC expects to complete its reorganization by Sept. 31, 2001.