A Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship arrived Wednesday morning at Muroran port in Hokkaido to take on light armored vehicles and other equipment bound for Kuwait for use by troops stationed in Iraq.
The 8,900-ton Osumi departed Kure port in Hiroshima Prefecture on Saturday, escorted by the 4,550-ton MSDF destroyer Murasame.
The Osumi will take on some 70 vehicles, including light armored vehicles and water-carriers, as well as fuel for Ground Self-Defense Force troops stationed in Samawah. The supplies will be transported overland from Kuwait.
The ship, which has a crew of about 150, will add more MSDF personnel from Muroran who will oversee the equipment.
The Osume and Murasame will depart Hokkaido on Friday and are scheduled to arrive in Kuwait early next month. They are slated to return to Kure in March.
Built in 1998 to transport GSDF units for amphibious landing operations, the 178-meter Osumi is capable of transporting tanks and other vehicles ashore with its two air-cushion landing craft. It has been used in two overseas missions, first in Turkey in 1999 for earthquake-relief operations and in East Timor as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in 2002.