At a time when spending cuts are at the heart of a heated political debate, the last thing the Pentagon needs is hundreds of millions in late fees.
The enormous cost comes from shipping containers that simply havent been returned on time, mostly in use for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Changing terms and an unforeseeably long war have made the containers extremely expensive and hard to return without incurring extra costs. To this point approximately $720 million in fees have been incurred in addition to the initial cost of the containers.
Bend over folks, there is much more of that down the road just waiting for you.
Who is the contractor on this? Appears someone by passed public affairs and dropped the ball by making this public. Will be interesting to see who the contractor is or if there are multiple contracts, and contractors here.
Of course that is small potatoes compared to around $30 Billion flushed down the drain through contractors. Check out this waste: http://www.newser.com/story/127161/military-contractors-30b-wasted-in-iraq-afghanistan-contracts-report-says.html
I wonder what the scrap market is like in the Middle East? I doubt that anyone got $720 million out of them but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that a subsidiary of the container company hadn't scrapped them out to make money on both ends of the deal, and save the expense of shipping empty containers to another point of use.
Since we're in 2 (1/2) wars, I believe it's the container company's patriotic duty to waive those late fees.