A national research center led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor may help save the Defense Department millions of dollars on the logistics of shipping military equipment, according to a statement Wednesday.
The Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education, led by UW-Madison engineering professor Teresa Adams, signed an agreement with Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, located in southern Mississippi, to “assist military planners in identifying the base as a critical part of a strategic military intermodal logistics hub,” according to the statement.
CFIRE helped determine the South Mississippi Defense Corridor would be an economically efficient place to route military equipment coming back to the United States from Afghanistan because of the Corridor’s advanced transportation, easy access to the Gulf of Mexico, capable airports, infrastructure investments and nearby military base.
Adams said the army will be able to maximize limited resources by working with both the Gulfport seaport and Camp Shelby in the Corridor.
“Ultimately, this collaborative logistical relationship will provide a platform for further economic and community development that is more than ever, so important in the Gulf area,” Adams said in the statement.
Col. William Smith, a Massachusetts National Guard commander, said in the statement the cost-effective alternative is a platform to streamline the return, reset, redeployment, redistribution and disposal of equipment from Afghanistan.
“It’s a military site selector’s dream,” Smith said in the release. “It’s reassuring that an organization like CFIRE can see this from 1,000 miles away.”
The Defense Department will spend $7 billion to ship nearly 750,000 pieces of equipment worth $36 billion as combat operations come to an end in 2014.
