JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
The 841st Transportation Battalion, located in Charleston, S.C., is one of the few Army organizations that operate out of Joint Base Charleston. Its primary mission is to provide surface deployment, distribution and port clearance solutions in support of warfighter requirements and national objectives. As it stands, each of the 841st TB's four strategic ports are aligned with a power projection platform that could be called upon at any time to execute a geographical combatant command OPLAN. In addition to this tremendous task, 841st TB also has the requirement to ensure the uninterrupted shipment, customs clearance and line haul of cargo through 164 ocean terminals along the coast.
In the last 30 days, the battalion’s ability to plan, coordinate, synchronize and execute port operation on a large scale was put to the test along with the operational readiness of our ports. Operating simultaneously out of the Ports of Jacksonville, Fla., Savannah, Ga., Wilmington, N.C., Charleston, S.C., and Philadelphia, Pa., the 841st TB executed the movement of a division’s worth of combat power off of the Eastern seaboard via sealift. Over 7,300 pieces of cargo transitioned through the 841st ports, utilizing over 1,000 commercial rail cars and over 600 commercial trucks time-phased from locations as far west as California and as far east as New York.
Although it has been over a decade since the Army, in a matter of days, has projected this large of a force and quantity of combat power off of the East coast, our ability to do so has not faded. With our reserve service members and mission partners by our side, the 841st Transportation Battalion ensured that the military remains an agile force ready to fight our nation’s wars at a moment’s notice.