U.S. Defense Department names Wakeman Iraqi maritime advisor

U.S. Defense Department names Wakeman Iraqi maritime advisor    The U.S. Defense Department has appointed Thomas H Wakeman III as principal maritime advisor to the Iraq Ministry of Transportation.
   Wakeman, general manager of waterways development in the port commerce department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will be on a leave of absence from the port authority for 18 months.
   Wakeman will help the Iraqi ministry rebuild the country’s maritime transportation system, including waterway facilities and freight handling terminals, focusing first on the port of Umm Qasr.
   He succeeds John Gaughan, the ranking U.S. maritime adviser in Iraq during the last six months of 2003. Gaughan, vice president of government affairs for the American Maritime Congress, was a Maritime Administrator during the Reagan Administration.
   During Gaughan’s tenure, Umm Qasr’s 21 berths were opened again to deep-draft ships, off-loading cargo from more than 40 vessels a month.