The Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore pier system, or JLOTS, is a Lego-like suite of floating metal piers and ramps that can connect virtually any ship to virtually any beach. While the Pentagon is sending five 273-foot US Army landing craft to begin building the pier, the final components will sail aboard the 951-foot transport ship Roy A Benavidez, which belongs to the US Navy-administered Ready Reserve Force.
It could take weeks to ship the pier components and days to assemble them. But once the pier is ready, it should be able to move – from sea to shore – 2,000,000 meals per day, according to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon has deployed JLOTS before, perhaps most notably to Haiti following the devastating earthquake in that country in 2010. But it has never deployed it in a major war.