4 Special report
on the British market
relevance on the best
bears no
recoverable value in theatre.
The value of something
set off an IED, so each and every battery used is considered ACTO and, as there is no way of disposing of them in Afghanistan, the whole lot has to be sorted by hand, packed and brought back for disposal in the UK. So far the RSC has sorted and packed 11 ISO containers
of lithium batteries and 50 pallets of alkaline batteries – equivalent to four ISO containers. The majority of materiel in the warlike scrap yard is
chopped up and sold by the tonne to the local market through a contractor that uses locally employed nationals (LENs) – some of whom are highly skilled metal smiths who can cut up an ISO in just 20 minutes. Between October 2012 and September 2013 1,702
tonnes of scrap, 216 tonnes of ballistic glass and 151 tonnes of wood and plastic was processed and disposed of through the yard. Major Anderson and her team at RSC work closely with defence contractor Agility Defence & Government Services, which won a 27 month contract in September 2012 to collect, track, store and dispose of non-military items and equipment used by UK forces in Afghanistan which were surplus to requirements.
Disposal route The team in Bastion headed by project manager Jonathan Davis is made up of ex-military and third country nationals (TCNs) and dispose of non-military goods through direct sales, online and live auctions, and recycling. The material includes office equipment, furniture, generators demilitarised vehicles and containers as well as kit you would not expect such as washing machines, two ML Douglas manufactured Aircraft De/Anti-icing trucks, a variety of Temporary Deployable Accommodation (TDA) capable of accommodating up to 600 men, which include ablutions, kitchens, dining rooms etc. in addition to two medical incinerators. Davis says: “Our job simply is take from Defence all of
the things they don’t want to take home, and sell them but to do so that we needed to set up the processes to Receive, Store, Inventory Account, Market, Sell and Financially Account for Defence residual assets. This is not a scrap contract – it is about getting the best recoverable asset value for Defence.” Davis says that Gary (Badger) Stockton, Logistics
Gary (Badger) Stockton, Logistics Director Agility Disposal Project and Jonathan Davis Project Manager Agility Disposal Project.
Director Agility Disposal Project, checks daily with the RSC for an update on the availability of goods for sale, which are packed in damaged and unseaworthy containers, then will liaise with them to transport the containers to the Agility yard for triage. Goods will be sorted into pallet loads of kit to be sold
locally, kit to be sent to other areas of Afghanistan and kit of a high enough value to be sold via Dubai.
Davis says: “The value of something on the British
market bears no relevance on the best recoverable value in theatre. Something with a high value in the UK could be worth nothing out here whereas the reverse could be true. Wood has a high value because there are no trees while a fridge may have a low value because running them is expensive out here.” “Our job is to get the best price in theatre but for high
value goods we will look to sell through Dubai if that means we will get a better price.” Usually this would be around four times as much as could be got in theatre to make transporting it out of theatre worthwhile. The job requires that Agility is as accountable as any
other unit deployed. Davis explains: “Use Agility’s “Assets” Warehouse Management System means we are able to handle and track the inventory easily and reassure the customer. The UK MoD are keen to prove a full audit trail or – in their terms “Proof of Good Order” and we were able to do that from Day One.” Day One was within weeks of securing the contract in
2012. Agility were authorised in the October and had held its first tender at the beginning of November – three weeks after deployment. Auctions are now weekly such is their success and are
carried out via sealed bid. Lots are laid out in the Agility compound and prepared for release. Photographs are taken of what is on offer and put up on line. At that point security cleared Afghan business men and traders come to see the lots usually accompanied by technicians and engineers for none of the goods sold come with any guarantee that they will work – it doesn’t seem to put anyone off. “All goods are sold caveat emptor,” says Davis, “with no
guarantees but that is OK, the Afghans are an amazing people, full of ingenuity. There is nothing that they cannot mend.” Potential buyers put in sealed bids for items and the
logisticsmanager March 2014
www.logisticsmanager.com
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