Aircraft can only do so much.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/01/navy_marad_ships_011810w/

U.S. sends 5 more ships to help Haiti

By Philip Ewing – Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 18, 2010 17:51:42 EST

…. Two crane ships, a special causeway and barge-handling ship, a specialized oil-delivery ship and a high-speed ferry will join the armada

…. Here’s how it will probably work:

The Cape May can unload barges and causeway sections — which can be assembled by Seabees already dispatched to Port-au-Prince — to serve as a new floating dock. A U.S. or international cargo ship can pull in and use them to tie up. The Gopher State and Cornhusker State can use their cranes to unload food and medicine from the incoming vessels. Port workers can use the Petersburg to pump fuel ashore for generators, aircraft and ground vehicles.

“Within 48 hours of arrival on station, [Petersburg can begin] pumping 1.2 million gallons per day from up to four miles off shore and at water depths down to 200 feet. If the ship is moored within two nautical miles of the shore, two different products may be pumped simultaneously through two separate conduits,” according to information from MarAd.

The Huakai can transport passengers, vehicles or cargo at around 40 knots, so it could serve as a high-speed link between Haiti and Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or Miami.

High speed ferry ~ 40 knots.

Gitmo – Port au Prince ~250 nm
Miami – Port au Prince ~ 600nm

The USS Carl Vinson made Norfollk VA to Haiti at 32 knots. http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28331

…

But the Rear Admiral Ted Branch, the commander of this ship, has already found some pretty big problems. He sent some observers out to take photographs of the terrain and he’s very worried at how hilly everything is, how much debris there is and what kind of damage might be done to his helicopters if they’re trying to provide some of those remoter areas where people haven’t been able to get into yet.

I mean there’s been criticism and suggestions that the military have moved too slowly on this but Rear Admiral Ted Branch said he brought his ship down from Virginia, Norfolk Virginia which is quite some distance at a rate of 32 knots. It’s a nuclear powered ship and they didn’t stop. And excusing the Australian slang they were flooring it and they got here as quickly as possible.

USN page
http://www.youtube.com/user/USNavyVisualNews#g/u

Gitmo is playing a big role.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/cube-allows-american-flyovers-from-haiti/

January 14, 2010
Cuba Allows American Flyovers From Haiti
By JEFF ZELENY

…. reducing the flight time to Miami by 90 minutes.

….. an agreement was reached with the Cuban military for evacuation flights from the United States Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay to pass through the airspace over Cuba on their way to Florida.