12 Sept. 2016. Over the summer, Chantier Davie Shipyard invited suppliers to present disaster-relief equipment available for the ship. Refueling and resupply of warships at sea are the main roles of the interim AOR, however, the June 28 meeting was to expand the ship's humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities.
The Point-class ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary carry pontoons for mexeflotes rafts on the deck of the ships. The ship's crane is used to lower the pontoons into the water, where the units are coupled together to form powered rafts. The mexeflote raft can transfer 60 tonnes of supplies from ship to shore in one trip.
The interim AOR has a container bay and two deck cranes. The ship will also carry light craft for transferring people and supplies, but nothing with the heavy lift capacity of the mexeflote. The loading ramp of the mexeflote allows vehicles and supplies to be off-loaded on the beach where port facilities don’t exist or have been damaged by a natural disaster.
A mexeflote raft on the interim AOR could operate with British or Australian mexeflote rafts in a disaster zone. A search of the web will find in 2015 the mexeflote was used in many training exercises and a few disaster relief operations. The mexflote pontoons and azimuthing thrusters are commercially available which could shorten procurement time.
If the mexeflote expertise and training of the British army were made available, it is possible a team could be ready to sail on the AOR and operate the mexeflote raft in September 2017.
Yours truly, Garry N
2 thoughts on “Mexeflote for Interim AOR”
Believe you mean Bay Class. Point Class do shuttle service to Cyprus, Bremen, Falkland Islands and where needed.
Dear Mr. Shirlaw,
Please accept my apologies for not replying sooner to your comment. The operation of the mexeflotes off the Bay Class LPD is well known; however the Point Class ships
also carry and deploy the mexeflote pontoons. I learned about mexeflotes on the Point Class ships by accident: one article from an observer at Exercise Tractable March 2015
in the UK and a single photo and comments on the Clyde maritime forum in 2011.
The interim AOR does not have a well dock of a proper amphibious ship, which makes it easy to dismiss the idea of carrying a mexeflote. However the Point Class ships do not
have a well dock either, but the RFA has been operating mexeflotes off these ships for years. The interim AOR is not a RORO ship, which gives the Point Class ship an edge
off-loading vehicles onto a mexeflote. The Interim AOR has two cranes with container- lift capacity and many Canadian army vehicles weigh under 20 tonnes. Two cranes
off-loading simultaneously may balance the ship better the single crane on the Point Class, but maybe I am just trying to make a case for the interim AOR to carry 2 mexeflotes !
Thank you for your interest in the idea. I have a couple other thoughts on how the interim AOR could utilize the mexeflote pontoons to enhance HADR and fleet repair capabilities;
maybe the Broadsides Forum would post those too.
Again sorry for not replying promptly,
Garry N