GIFF JOHNSON
The Kramer Dock and everything around it on the lagoon side property is truly another world from the norm of Majuro Atoll.
Driving through the other day, we noticed numerous activities ongoing that impact many areas of life in RMI and its economy.
For example, currently the dock is filled with mountains of “black sand” fill material imported from New Caledonia that Pacific International Inc. is using for the land reclamation by the airport terminal, as well as for paving work.
Behind these mountains of fill material — all of which will be used for different construction projects — were three purse seiners tied to the dock. One was tied up, with no apparent activity. The middle seiner was offloading its catch of tuna into freezer containers using the Mark II Star Loader machinery. The third vessel was positioned toward the bridge side of the dock, its massive net piled on the dock and a dozen of its crew members busy making repairs.
One PII worker was operating a heavy duty vehicle that used a short crane with a special attachment to attach to the top of containers to move freezer containers, repositioning them on the dock as the tuna unloading proceeded.
Just the fact that the Kramer Dock is still a work in progress, perhaps 70 percent complete, yet it can accommodate three purse seiners at the same time is impressive.
At the Rubar end of the dock, one of the two LCU’s PII purchased from the US Army several years ago is up on blocks going through a dry-docking operation to renew it.
Then there is a wide, high roofed, open sided machine shop with multiple “bays” for work on vehicles, engines and other machinery.
There were numerous pieces of heavy equipment — bulldozers, diggers and others — at the ready for further use, with at least one we saw being used to move fill material.
Perhaps a dozen large containers used to transport gasoline for PII’s fuel station were stacked near the station.
As an industrial area, it has no peers in the RMI.