With a fleet of nine U.S.-flag RoRo ships, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC), is the U.S.\u2019 premier commercial RoRo carrier of U.S. government and military cargo. \u00a0As the world becomes an increasingly contentious place, Eric P. Ebeling, President & CEO, ARC, discusses the vast capabilities of the ARC fleet and logistics network, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead for U.S.-flag ships in the international trade.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n By the numbers\u2019 is a simplistic means to gauge the size and shape of any shipping company, and ARC, with its nine U.S.-flag RoRo ships in the fleet, its 64 shoreside employees and 350 American merchant mariners, ranks at the top as the largest U.S.-flag RoRo operator. \u00a0But the numbers only tell part of the story and ARC is not only a shipowner. ARC is a multi-modal logistics services company built to serve primarily the needs of the U.S. government transporting heavy lifts of government machinery globally, predominantly into Northern Europe as of the last few years.<\/p>\n Headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, ARC ships sail primarily out of three U.S. base ports (Baltimore, Brunswick and Galveston), today sailing primarily into three key Northern European ports (Antwerp, Southampton and Bremerhaven). ARC has operated in the transatlantic trade for more than 35 years. Sitting at the helm is Eric P. Ebeling, long-term with the company and President & CEO since 2015<\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019ve fully recapitalized our fleet since 2016; that\u2019s eight ships we\u2019ve brought into the U.S.-flag fleet and the Maritime Security Program (MSP) and Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) since 2016,\u201d said Ebeling. \u201cA lot of work goes into finding the right ships with the right capabilities. It\u2019s exciting and you have to make a business case to make those kinds of investments too, because you\u2019re talking about 30-year assets that cost hundreds of millions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n ARC is focused on acquiring and operating the most militarily useful and commercially viable ships for its military, and commercial customers, too. Via its participation in the U.S. government MSP and VISA programs, ARC guarantees capacity to the U.S. government, and in the most recent year around 55% of ARC\u2019s revenue was from ocean cargo carried for the U.S. government, said Christian Heibel, SVP Commercial, ARC<\/strong>. \u201cThe underlying bedrock maritime program for the international U.S. flag fleet is the Maritime Security Program; it\u2019s important that that program stays strong and stable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cMSP really only works when it\u2019s hand in glove with the cargo preference laws. Those are the laws that generate the cargo that moves on US flag vessels. \u00a0Really, it\u2019s cargo \u2013 those preference cargoes \u2013 that\u2019s the key incentive for US flag operators in international trade. Nobody\u2019s going to operate a US flag ship just for the MSP stipend. It\u2019s a cargo driven industry, and those cargoes help to offset the foreign flag cost differential.\u201d The latest vessel to enter the fleet is the\u00a0M\/V ARC Honor<\/strong>, a 230-m long RoRo with with a 6.5-m high stern opening and a stern ramp rated for cargo weighing up to 320 MT, the company\u2019s fourth U.S.-flag LCTC (large car truck carrier) vessel.<\/p>\n According to Heibel, the characteristics that make the ARC fleet stand out are the door and deck heights and the strengthened ramps and decks to accommodate volumes of heavy military kit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a high main deck to accommodate certain aviation assets and projects\u201d said Heibel. \u201cFor example, every aviation brigade has the Chinooks, and if you can\u2019t carry the Chinooks, you can\u2019t carry the brigade. It also helps us to carry certain project government and commercial cargoes for the \u2018high and heavy\u2019 market, which includes mining, agricultural and construction equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n While each ship in the ARC fleet has its own capabilities, Heibel was particularly bullish on the ship \u00a0Endurance, which he calls \u201cextraordinary.\u201d Endurance is a ro-ro built originally for the mining industry in 1996 and boasts 262,000 sq. ft. of military capacity and nearly 500,000 sq. ft. of commercial capacity. \u201cAlthough the oldest ship in MSP, Endurance is still the most militarily useful vessel in the U.S.-flag fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n The Importance of MSP<\/strong><\/p>\n CEO Ebeling is naturally concerned first and foremost with ARC and all that goes into running a safe, efficient, and profitable fleet and company, primarily eying the dual challenges of fleet decarbonization while simultaneously working to ensure that ARC has the people it wants and needs to conduct business. \u00a0But as the country\u2019s largest RoRo carrier transporting equipment that is central to U.S. presence and influence globally, he also embraces a higher calling to a bigger purpose; namely \u201cthe development and implementation of a national maritime strategy that is focused on the importance of a U.S.-flag commercial fleet in international trade.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about the fleet and the assets here, but as we are the country\u2019s biggest RoRo carrier, we are also keenly aware of the importance of the U.S. Merchant Marine as well, the guys that are actually operating on the ships,\u201d said Ebeling. \u201cAnother part that\u2019s an important component that sometimes gets lost: we talk a lot about national defense, national security, and those are obviously important aspects, but we also support the country\u2019s economic security, and that\u2019s increasingly (and equally) important.\u201d<\/p>\n The Maritime Security Program (MSP)<\/strong> was established by President Clinton<\/strong> in 1996 as part of the Maritime Security Act of 1996<\/strong>, and MSP maintains a fleet of 60 commercially viable, militarily useful merchant ships active in international trade.<\/p>\n The MSP fleet is available to support U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) sustainment sealift requirements during times of conflict or in other national emergencies, and the program also provides DoD access to MSP participants\u2019 global intermodal transportation network of terminals, facilities, logistic management services, and U.S. citizen merchant mariners.<\/p>\n Ebeling is understandably supportive of the Maritime Security Program (MSP), a program that pays a \u2018readiness retainer\u2019 of $5.3m per year per U.S. flag ship in the program, primarily positioned as payment to offset the higher costs of operating U.S.-flag ships and employing U.S. citizen crews as compared to mariners from developing countries which crew the majority of the international commercial fleet. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s important and relevant to focus on the commitment and the performance of the U.S. flag fleet and international trade over the decades,\u201d said Ebeling. \u201cIf you look at Iraq and Afghanistan, 98% of those cargoes were transported to the region, either on U.S.-flag commercial ships or US. government owned and or controlled ships. Those are all crewed by U.S. citizen merchant mariners; that\u2019s important. Taking a more recent look, something like 90% of the sustainment cargo that supported military options in those countries moved on the U.S.-flag commercial fleet as well. And then of course, more recently, that trend has continued today in Europe with those operations relating to Ukraine.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s much more than just the floating asset, it\u2019s also the global intermodal networks, it\u2019s the mariners, it\u2019s the systems that the carriers and operators bring to the table, all provided by the MSP fleet, and it would cost the government tens of billions of dollars to try to replicate that \u2026 if they could replicate that. And these US flag commercial ships can also operate in places that a \u00a0gray hull might not be able.\u201d<\/p>\n He cites the Navy League\u2019s most recent maritime policy document for 2023\/24, which estimated it would cost $13 billion in taxpayer funds just to do the vessel capacity alone without MSP, not to mention the billions it would add to emulate the logistics network.<\/p>\n \u201cMSP really only works when it\u2019s hand in glove with the cargo preference laws,\u201d said Ebeling. \u201cThose are the laws that generate the cargo that moves on US flag vessels. \u00a0Really, it\u2019s cargo \u2013 those preference cargoes \u2013 that\u2019s the key incentive for US flag operators in international trade. Nobody\u2019s going to operate a US flag ship just for the MSP stipend. It\u2019s a cargo driven industry, and those cargoes help to offset the foreign flag cost differential.\u201d<\/p>\n The $5.3m stipend per ship was the amount decided when MSP was last reauthorized in 2019, and at the time Ebeling said the amount was sufficient for its purpose. But with the Covid pandemic and the myriad of changing cost dynamics, from raging inflation to supply chain snarls, he said it\u2019s worth revisiting if that payment is sufficient in 2024.<\/p>\n ARC & the Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA Group<\/strong><\/p>\n As a part of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Group ASA, ARC is able to tap a shipping, port and logistics value chain globally that measures its experience in centuries, not decades. With experience<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re one of four different business units in the group, and there are a lot of synergies,\u201d said Ebeling. \u201cBut we have an independent board of US directors at ARC. Our chairman is General John Handy,<\/strong>\u00a0is a former commander of U.S. Transportation Command. We have a strong U.S. citizen leadership team also, and that\u2019s really to make sure that we maintain U.S. control of the company and our ships, which are carrying those government cargoes. So that\u2019s relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n In total Wallenius Wilhelmsen Group ASA [according to its 2022 Annual Report] encompasses 125 vessels transporting 3.65 million units; eight terminals handling more than 3.1 million units; and 66 services and processing centers, processing more than 5.1 million vehicles. In 2022 it had 8,875 employees in 29 countries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of synergies within the Wallenius Wilhelmsen group of companies,\u201d said Ebeling. \u201cWe can tap into port services, logistics services, \u00a0other capabilities. So it is a bit of a force multiplier for us, and it does help us in turn, provide better service to our customer through that global network. We are certainly a unique business unit within the Wallenius Wilhelmsen group given our mission and our customer set. But there\u2019s a lot of benefits to being a part of that global company as well.\u201d<\/p>\n This synergy extends too when facing one of the most pervasive challenges facing any shipowner today: embracing and enacting energy transition to hit decarbonization targets.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some really unique challenges around greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonization,\u201d <\/strong>said Ebeling. \u201cThat\u2019s an important part of our long-term strategy, but by the same token, industry is not going to do that alone. We need clear policy guidance to guide our strategic decisions, whether that\u2019s from the U.S. government or the IMO.\u201d<\/p>\n As an example of \u201cclarity and consistency,\u201d Ebeling points first to \u201cthe simple stuff\u201d \u2026 or what reasonably should be considered simple, and that\u2019s scoring a ship\u2019s emission signature. \u00a0\u201cAre we scoring it on well to wake or are we scoring it on tank to wake? You can get different answers, and that\u2019s just one potential talking point. Also, there are around 16 different fuel options for ships today. But are those fuels available in industrial quantities? Are they available globally? You can\u2019t easily, or cost-effectively change fuel in an existing ship.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo really it\u2019s about getting to some uniform, consistent regulation so that we can make the smart capital investments and decisions to continue to grow our US flag merchant fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With a fleet of nine U.S.-flag RoRo ships, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC), is the U.S.\u2019 premier commercial RoRo carrier of U.S. government and military cargo. \u00a0As the world becomes an increasingly contentious place, Eric P. Ebeling, President & CEO, ARC, discusses the vast capabilities of the ARC fleet and logistics network, as well …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/39438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Eric P. Ebeling, President & CEO, ARC
Image courtesy ARC<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/file\/2024\/02\/1708546434_843_ARC-Keeps-the-Cargo-Rolling.jpg\"\/)
\u201cWe need a high main deck to accommodate certain aviation assets and projects.Every aviation brigade has the Chinooks, and if you can\u2019t carry the Chinooks, you can\u2019t carry the brigade. It also helps us to carry certain project government and commercial cargoes for the \u2018high and heavy\u2019 market, which includes mining, agricultural and construction equipment.\u201d Christian Heibel, SVP Commercial, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier (ARC)
Image courtesy ARC<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Ebeling\u2019s point is highlighting the cumulative true value of MSP and the operations it supports.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/file\/2024\/02\/1708546435_924_ARC-Keeps-the-Cargo-Rolling.jpg\"\/)
M\/V Freedom loads an Amtrak railcar for export in Zeebrugge, Belgium.
Image courtesy ARC<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/file\/2024\/02\/1708546435_253_ARC-Keeps-the-Cargo-Rolling.jpg\"\/)
M\/V Endurance prepares to load Apache helicopters for an Army Combat Aviation Brigade.
Image courtesy ARC<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n