Iceport

[1] Prior to the invention of the ice pier, U.S. ships participating in Operation Deep Freeze discharged cargo at temporary iceports in McMurdo Sound.

At that time, freighters and tankers arriving with supplies and fuel were forced to dock as far away as 16 km from the harbor.

Ships would moor alongside seasonal pack ice, where longshoremen would offload cargo onto large sleds.

Snowcats and tractors would then be used to tow the freight over ice to McMurdo Station, a difficult and potentially dangerous operation.

U.S. Navy engineers constructed the first floating ice pier at McMurdo Station, Antarctica’s southernmost sea port, in 1973.