The US Navy is sending the rescue and salvage ship, USS Grasp, to Port-au-Prince, Haiti with divers and underwater construction personnel to assess the damage to piers and other port facilities. The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship with a capacity of a 1,000 beds, sailed from Baltimore this morning and is expected to arrive in Haiti by Thursday. The USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship with a 800 bed hospital, sailed from Norfolk last Thursday.
US Navy en route to make Haiti seaport usable
USNS Comfort Sets Sail For Haiti
Andy Hall at the Maritime Texas blog has some excellent before and after photos of the Port-au-Prince docks. Not only have the shore cranes fallen into the water but significant sections of the docks have also collapsed.
Some 30 Haitian dockers working vessels at the moment when Tuesday’s earthquake struck were killed, mostly through drowning, according to the main operating company at the port of Port-au-Prince.
Richard Lebrun of Terminal Varreux also told the New York Times newspaper that its two terminals had been destroyed as a result of the disaster. In addition, the main commercial pier, wharf and the crane that removes shipping containers are under water.
Thanks to Dexter Donham for passing the article along.