USNS Courier

USNS Courier (MARAD hull AK-5019) was a cargo ship of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. The cargo ship was built by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania, at the request of the US Maritime Administration (MARAD hull 124) in 1962. The ship was 470 ft in length and has a breath of 73 and weighs 11420 tons, empty. The ship was originally administered by American Export Lines under the civilian name SS Export Courier and eventually became part of the James River Reserve Fleet. The company ran into financial trouble in 1977. Before 1981, Farrell Lines, which took over parts of the dissolved American Export Lines, transferred administration of the Courier to the Military Sealift Command, which renamed the ship USNS Courier. The ship was officially accepted as part of the Maritime Administration in February 1983. From 1981 it was stationed with the Beaumont Reserve Fleet or docked at Port Neches, Beaumont Texas. Service records indicate repairs after Operation Desert Storm. In 2001 the ship was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet and remained in this status until July 2008 when it was sold to Southern Scrap Metal Corporation of New Orleans, Louisiana and subsequently transferred to New Orleans' Industrial Canal on 13 August, a little more than two weeks before Hurricane Gustav reached Louisiana's southeastern coast.