U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced that the Department of Transportation has awarded contracts worth $1.96 billion over eight years to seven U.S. maritime firms to manage, maintain, and operate 48 National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) vessels through January 2024.

These Maritime Administration contracts are funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Sealift Fund to support DoD’s strategic sealift mission.

The eighteen contracts awarded to seven U.S. maritime firms total $953.5 million for the four-year base contract which runs through January 2020. The contracts also include two, two-year options bringing the total award value to $1.96 billion. The seven companies are responsible for maintaining the ships in good mechanical condition and ensuring that crews are available to operate them when needed.

“Since 1946, National Defense Reserve Fleet vessels have facilitated U.S. strategic sealift, natural disaster response, and humanitarian operations all around the world,” said Foxx. “From supporting our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and providing humanitarian support for Haiti, to supporting the United Nation’s at-sea neutralization of Syria’s chemical weapons – this fleet reliably, economically, and efficiently advances U.S. contributions to global peace and prosperity.”

Forty-six of the vessels are part of the Department of Transportation’s Ready Reserve Force, a fleet managed by the Maritime Administration (MARAD) that provides rapid mass movement of Department of Defense equipment and supplies to support our Armed Forces, and also responds to national and humanitarian emergencies. Two vessels are used to support Missile Defense Agency operations. Each certified, mission-ready vessel is maintained so that it can be fully activated and deployed quickly. The 46 Ready Reserve Force vessels have been activated hundreds of times since 2002.

The awardees are:

Crowley Technical Management, Inc., for four vessels, contract amount: $150 million;

Keystone Shipping Services, 11 vessels, contract amount: $412 million;

Matson Navigation Company, Inc., three vessels, contract amount: $175 million;

Ocean Duchess, Inc., eight vessels, contract amount: $342 million;

Pacific-Gulf Marine, Corp., six vessels, contract amount: $194 million;

Patriot Contract Services, seven vessels, contract amount: $227 million;

Tote Services, Inc., nine vessels, $461 million.