Op Trenton draws to a close

Op Trenton, one of the largest United Nations (UN) mission in history, has drawn to a close after four years.

Launched in 2017, Op Trenton is the UK contribution to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.  Around 400 military personnel deployed to two locations in Malakal and Bentiu which included an Engineering Task Force formed of Royal Engineers, Medics, Logisticians, and Force Protection Troops who delivered a number of infrastructure projects including the two hospitals.

So what role did Team Leidos play? Since 2017, we have been involved throughout the operation. Here are some highlights of what we have delivered:

• Supporting the initial deployment of vehicles and major equipment, materiel and medical supplies;
• Shipping freight from the UK to Mombasa for onward move by road. This involved travelling 1620km through Kenya into South Sudan;
• Temperature controlled movement of Pharma, sourcing bespoke 'Envirotainers' to enable shipments via air into Juba;
• Recovery of UK freight at the end of the operation, moving vehicles and equipment to Mombasa for shipping back to the UK;
• Planning and executing the port strip-out following vessel arrival into Southampton (in conjunction with Solent Stevedores and 17 Port & Maritime Regiment RLC):
  • Tranche 1 – October 2020:
    • 226 ISO containers were moved to a range of destinations;
    • 77 vehicle and major equipment movements.
  • Tranche 2 – June 2021:
    • 19 vehicle and major equipment movements;
    • One ISO container moved;
    • 6 flat racks.

The then Minister for the Armed Forces Anne-Marie Trevelyan said during an interview with the UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) in January 2020: “Our contribution to South Sudan has seen the largest deployment of UK military peacekeepers in two decades and while our contribution to the UN mission draws to a close our commitment to a peaceful future for the people of South Sudan remain as strong as ever.”

Eddie Hutton-Fellowes, Head Global Logistics Services at Leidos UK said: “This was a true team effort by Leidos and its partners at Agility and Kuehne+Nagel. From start to finish, Team Leidos is proud to have supported the UK military with Op Trenton, using our commercial expertise to deliver a successful outcome for the customer.”

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