ICO has won a unique US Army contract.
77 US Army helicopters of three types (CH-47 Chinook, UH-60 Blackhawk, AH-64 Apache) as well as ancillary equipment has been discharged on the new Hanze terminal on 19 October 2017. The helicopters are being assembled on the terminal and will perform test flights before flying off to Chievres in Belgium and thereafter to their final destination in Europe.
The helicopters belong to the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade based at Fort Hood, Texas, and will be deployed for 9 months besides the already 2 brigades in operation in Eastern Europe. The deployment of the Combat helicopters is part of the “Operation Atlantic Resolve” decided by former president Barack Obama and confirmed by his successor Donald Trump.
Besides catering for the vessel handling ICO has transformed 8 ha of the new Hanze terminal into a genuine US Army base. The compound is surrounded by 1.2 kilometer of double stacked containers. It has assembly zones, landing and take-off zones, facilities for the Force Protection, offices and briefing rooms for pilots and flying crew. About 150 Army staff will be working inside the compound on a daily basis. For the safety and security ICO is working very closely with Belgian Force Protection, Federal Police, Navy, Port Authorities, local fire brigade and emergency services.
The operations is expected to be completed by the 1st week of November2017 and ICO is hoping that this successful operation will lead to more USA Army business.
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2017/10/24/-waarom-zeebrugge--we-wilden-een...