The following is text of a news release from Foss Maritime:
(LOS ANGELES) — At 0730 hours Friday morning, Foss tugboats Alta June, Bo Brusco and Arthur Foss, along with Foss sister company AMNAV providing the tug Patricia Ann, met the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy at the Port of Los Angeles' “Angels Gate” entrance. The tugs escorted the ship to a security sweep location before finally assisting it into Berth 93, where it will remain for the foreseeable future. The vessel was declared “all fast” to the dock at 0930 hours.
“Foss is proud and honored to assist this important vessel into port,” said Paul Hendriks, general manager of the Foss Southern California office. “Leading the way were Capts. John Strunk, Ryan San Jose, Stan Sato and Drew Kerlee (AMNAV), who have a combined 85 years of experience providing safe operations in the harbor.”
Foss Maritime has a long history of service to U.S. government agencies in time of national crises, including FEMA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), U.S. Transcom, SDDC and USAID. The Foss “Always Safe. Always Ready” motto has been called upon often over the past decade with response and service efforts following the Haiti earthquake in 2010 (food aid and port reconstruction), Hurricane Sandy in 2012 (operating pumps and generators) and Hurricanes Maria and Erma in Puerto Rico in 2017 (utility truck delivery and deployment of three accommodation vessels).
“While we are happy to see USNS Mercy docked at the port ready to serve, we hope her stay is a short one which would indicate that the medical crisis is subsiding and the shoreside medical community can care for those impacted by the COVID-19 virus,” said Hendriks. “The medical assistance USNS Mercy has provided to impoverished communities around the world for the past 45 years has been nothing but life changing for the tens of thousands of patients they’ve treated. She is truly a beacon of hope.”
