Leaving Afghanistan – there has been much comment in the media on the kit that will be left behind in Afghanistan with statements that to 40 per cent of the UK's 'arsenal' will be left behind and 'millions of pounds' worth of kit will be scrapped!     The MoD has clarified the remarks by saying that the Government is not giving armoured vehicles to Uzbekistan.       The gifting package consists of 50 surplus Leyland Daf 4x4 trucks and spare parts for Land Rovers and will total £450,000.

The MoD has begun to plan for the recovery of some £4bn of inventory deployed to Afghanistan. On current estimates, this could amount to the equivalent of about 6,500 twenty foot containers of equipment, together with about 2,500 vehicles.    Along with our NATO allies it is important that we secure a range of options for the redeployment of our vehicles and equipment from Afghanistan.     Recovering our equipment safely and efficiently is a significant and complex logistical undertaking and this agreement with Uzbekistan provides apparently the operational resilience for our plans.

To put that into some context the Danish Maersk Company operates a virtually daily service from Singapore to Europe ie Rotterdam with few intermediate calls, though Felixstowe is one.   One of the container ships used on this service is the EMMA MAERSK itself one eight “E-Class” Container Ships owned by the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group.    When launched (in 2006) the EMMA MAERSK could lift around 11,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEU), or 14,770 TEU depending on definition.     In May 2010 another ship of the class the EBBA MAERSK set a record for this class lifting 15,011 TEU – so while the MoD struggle with the complex logistical undertaking that is leaving Afghanistan the planners of the Maersk do this every day and have done so for years.    The Danish Maersk Company is of course only one of several major shipping lines that would organise the movement of 4,500 TEU in heatbeat and without great fanfare.