Defense Logistics Agency’s Single Point Mooring (SPM) fuel import buoys stationed off Okinawa, Japan — critical infrastructure that enables the U.S. military to receive bulk petroleum deliveries from tanker vessels at sea.

When an emergency failure of the Main Pipe Distribution Unit bearing — rated for 50,000 pounds of load — threatened to take one of the buoys out of service, PCCI mobilized rapidly to restore operability and protect the fuel supply chain supporting U.S. forces in the Pacific.

In 2017, PCCI executed a comprehensive hull overhaul of one of the SPM buoys, managing the full scope from shipyard to redeployment. The buoy was towed from its operating location to a local shipyard, where PCCI conducted a thorough inspection of all systems along with metal thickness gauging to assess the full extent of corrosion damage. The findings were significant — corrosion had compromised the upper hull and deck perimeter, requiring complete replacement of all affected hull plating.

Working alongside a local petroleum piping firm and an OEM-trained quality assurance representative, PCCI also completed government-directed alterations to the balance arm and mooring arm, and replaced mission-critical valves and expansion joints throughout the system. Once structural and mechanical work was complete, the buoy was rebalanced, all new steel was treated, and the entire exterior was repainted to specification.

With the overhaul complete, PCCI towed the buoy back to its home port and coordinated its placement onto storage blocks — a precision lift executed by Okinawa’s only 300-tonne crane.