Sunday, November 23, 2014

It's all about logistics

Logistics can be considered the art of managing the flow of supplies from a point of origin to a required destination. Undertaking scientific research in a harsh and remote location such as Antarctica requires considerable resources e.g. food, shelter, fuel, transportation vehicles, scientific equipment, waste management and so on. A central hub of logistics in Antarctica is the Science Cargo unit. They have to ensure that all the hardware of a scientific project, as well as requirements of a deep field camp, gets to where it needs to be.

Well weathered blue building Number 193 - Science Cargo.

The organized chaos of Science Cargo - goods and people moving everywhere

The people that work in Cargo are very friendly and helpful. Somehow they get everything where it needs to be.

Equipment for a field party that will be camping and conducting research in a remote location.

Three AWS stations all packed up and ready to be shipped. This includes tower sections, battery boxes (black & orange) and boxes full of instruments (grey and green)

Every item shipped has to have a shipping form. We filled out 15 forms today.
You have to be fill out a form for every item shipped so that the Cargo Dept. knows what each item is, where it is going, how it should get there, how much it weighs,  how big it is and whether it contains hazardous material.

ROS Date: Required On Site
Put-in? Is this shipment for the establishment ("put-in") of a deep field camp?
Cube: How many cubic feet?



This vehicle is called a "Pickle" - partly because it is green and is articulated (i.e. bends) in the middle, so can resemble a pickle, but also because it is a fork-lift that picks everything up.


This door has had a hard but productive life.