In late March, the Bob Hope-class MV Roy P. Benavidez (T-AKR 306) departed her port in Newport News, Virginia, carrying equipment to build a floating pier in the Mediterranean that will support the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

A few weeks later, the ship has landed off the coast of Gaza and construction has begun on the 550-meter long, two-lane pier.

The MV Benavidez is one of several US Army vessels and Military Sealift Command ships in the Mediterranean sea working to build the platform, where ships can unload pallets of aid destined for civilians in Gaza.

The MV Benavidez is a medium-speed roll-on, roll-off cargo ship formerly in service with the US Navy as a sealift ship. Since 2022, she has been a part of the US Department of Transportation's US Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Fleet and fulfills a critical role in USTRANSCOM's military sealift operations.

The steel hulled-ship measures at approximately 289 meters in length, about 90% of the length of a US Navy Supercarrier, and can carry up to 22,000 tons or 380,000 square feet of containerized cargo.

The largest elements of her cargo include several 22,680-kilogram pieces of floating causeway which the Benavidez will deliver to the US Army's 7th Transportation Brigade who will construct the temporary pier.

Humanitarian aid mission

The floating modular pier system, known as Trident Pier, will allow the smooth transit of humanitarian aid onto the shore of Gaza without putting US boots on the ground.

This style of temporary pier is known as Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS), a critical joint Army-Navy capability that allows ship-to-shore transportation of cargo in the absence of a usable pier.

JLOTs empower US forces to deploy humanitarian assistance, increase throughput and ease the burden on other methods of aid-transport which cannot deliver high volumes of assistance.

Once constructed, the pier will enable the flow of critical aid, including an estimated up to two million meals a day, to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict.

The pier is expected to be fully operational in early May.

In recent months, US forces have conducted humanitarian assistance airdrops alongside the Royal Jordanian Air Force, delivering more than 1,100 tons of food to civilians. The construction of the pier will enhance these efforts.

JLOTS missions have previously seen success, including the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Haiti in the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the island in 2010.