‘WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN’
The ‘boat comes in’ today at Centre Port, Wellington bringing with it all the equipment and vehicles returning from the
NZDF’s three year deployment to East Timor. The UN Chartered MV ‘Clipper Chepstow’ is expected to dock this morning
after departing from Suai, East Timor 11 days ago. With over 100 20’ containers weighing over 900 Tonne and 98 vehicles
on board, ranging from Unimog Army trucks and Armoured Personnel Carriers through to engineering plant equipment and
trailers, the off loading operation is expected to take up to two days after MAF have completed their final inspections.
The leader of the Extraction Team responsible for the pack-up operation in East Timor, Major Tony Downey said, “ We
planned everything to the last detail, and it’s very pleasing to see that plan in action, and the ship arriving ahead of
time. The team effort has been huge. Now we will focus our attentions on the refurbishment operation and getting the
equipment and vehicles back out to the units.”
The refurbishment operation will start straight away at Trentham Camp with the container unpacking and initial
evaluations expected to take up to three months to complete. Getting the equipment and vehicles back up to top working
order after three years in a tropical environment will take over 12 months.