Replacing the Mexeflote

The Mexeflote is a modular pontoon in service with the British and Australian armed forces and is primarily used to transfer vehicles, stores and equipment from ship to shore.

In service since the sixties, its basic design has endured, but at some point, it will need replacing.

History of the Mexeflote

The Mexeflote came into service with the British Army in the early sixties.

One of its conceptual predecessors is the US Rhino Pontoon. After WWII, some work was completed with the Heavy Ferry, whose development started in 1947, for ship-to-shore transfer of tracked vehicles.

The initial Heavy Ferry designs used four propulsion pontoons, one at each corner, that made use of the Hotchkiss Cone Propellor design for use in very shallow water. By the time it entered service in the early fifties, the Heavy Ferry still had four propulsion units but they now used a Gill waterjet powered by a Rolls Royce B80 engine.

Gill waterjets are still going, trading as Tees White Gill now.

Pop over to the Shiny7 website for some great images of the Heavy Ferry.

The Thos Uniflote Pontoon was another similar design, shown below operating in Aden with a single outboard engine.

The Uniflote pontoon was found to have weak couplers in the offshore environment so the Mr Eric Longbottom of the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment (MEXE) designed the Harbour and Landing Ship Logistics Pontoon Causeway, more commonly known as the Mexeflote.

A Royal Engineer Major during WWII, Mr Longbottom was also involved with the design of the Heavy Girder Bridge.

This 1967 video from British Pathe provides a good overview of Mexeflote in use

The US tested Mexeflote in 1970 and found that whilst the larger Navy Lighterage pontoon performed better in higher sea states, Mexeflote had much-improved flexibility and recommended it for future Landing Ship Tank (LST) designs.

Manufacturing rights were granted to Fairey Engineering Ltd in Stockport, now WFEL.

They have remained more or less unchanged and in constant service then, repaired and refurbished, new propulsion units added, but the same design concept as created by Eric!

The 1982 Falklands Conflict

2 officers and 151 other ranks from 17 Port Regiment Royal Corps of Transport would provide the five Mexeflote and mechanical handling capability for the Task Force.

Because of concerns about severe weather ripping the Mexeflote off their normal sideloaded locations, they were carried as deck cargo and craned overboard when needed.

At Ascension, most of the stores for the initial landings were split between the LSL’s Sir Percival and Sir Galahad.

Operation Sutton was the landings at San Carlos and within 5 hours all the personnel were ashore. 3 CDO Logistics Support Regiment set up at Ajax Bay or Red Beach and started the task of unloading the stores from the LSLs.

It was estimated that Mexeflote’s shifted over three-quarters of the stores transferred from ship to shore.

Mexeflotes were used as causeways between ships in the open ocean, stores were driven between ships over a mexeflote causeway with Fiat Allis and Eager Beaver forklifts.

In San Carlos water they were used in overload conditions, the pontoon underwater, the deck awash whilst carrying loads approaching 200 tonnes, double their rating.

Some of them came under fire.

The Military Medal was awarded to Sgt Boultby for using his Mexeflote to rescue survivors at Bluff Cove.

Sergeant Boultby of 17 Port Regiment, RCT, was the NCO in charge of MEXEFLOTE rafts throughout the Falkland Islands operations. At Ascension Island, during a massive re-stow operation he worked all hours under difficult conditions to move cargo quickly. In San Carlos Water, the MEXEFLOTE rafts played a major part in the logistic landing of equipment to ensure the success of the fighting troops. From the exposed position which such a raft offers, Sergeant Boultby worked continuously throughout daylight hours and in extreme weather conditions. The vulnerability of his position to constant enemy air attack did not deter him from his task and he was an inspiration to his crew and other RCT personnel. He was coxswain of the MEXEFLOTE present at Fitzroy during the bombing of RFA SIR GALAHAD and RFA SIR TRISTRAM, and repeatedly returned to the area of the stricken ships to rescue survivors and, with complete disregard for his own safety, dived into the sea to rescue a Chinese crewman. Sergeant Boultby’s dedication to his tasks in dangerous conditions was outstanding.

Mexeflotes would also provide sterling service after the cessation of hostilities and were the only thing capable of offloading bulk materials and heavy stores until the Ramped Craft Logistics arrived.

The importance of the Mexeflotes and their 17 Port Regiment RCT operators cannot be overstated, without their efforts, the materials required to construct the facilities at the RAF Stanley would have taken an immeasurable amount of time longer than required.

With a journey time between the ship and B slipway in Port Stanley Harbour of between 30 and 40 minutes, the maximum weights would have to be exploited. AM2 and construction plant is heavy and even the Mexeflote was seen to struggle on occasions.

Slipway B was the only useable slipway for heavy stores and had to be repaired and reinforced by the sappers before use.

One particularly challenging load was the pair of 45-tonne rock crushers required at the Mary Hill quarry near the airport, the operation had to be carried out at night because they would not fit under the overhead power and telephone wires in Port Stanley, the wires were temporarily lifted as the equipment was very slowly pushed and pulled into place by a recovery vehicle and Combat Engineer Tractor.

In one incident, a pair of Haulmatic earthmovers were lost over the side of a Mexeflote during poor weather. They were eventually recovered, repaired and rechristened as Aquamatics!

They were also used for transferring prisoners to the SS Canberra before sailing home.

2010 Haiti Earthquake Response and Beyond

The UK’s response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake was mostly carried on the RFA Largs Bay (now HMAS Choules) and Mexeflote was used to transfer the vehicles and supplies to shore in addition to acting as a general-purpose transport capability in support of the wider operation.

17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, and other members of her embarked force delivered vehicles and building materials at Port-au-Prince.

After completing the initial deliveries she was tasked by the World Food Programme (WFP) to deliver food to areas that had been cut off by the earthquake, the village of Anse-à-Veau, in Nippes province for example.

The four-day operation at the village delivered 275,000 ready meals, 30 tonnes of rice, six tonnes of beans, more than 200 boxes of corn soya blend, 100-plus boxes of vegetable oil, and 13 bags of salt.

Since then, Mexeflotes have been regularly used in the Caribbean for disaster response, most notably in the aftermath of hurricanes such as Hurricane Irma.