The general concept is as follows:
An ISB normally accommodates between several hundred to several thousand 53 ft trailers containing ice, bottled water, MREs, cots, blankets and other emergency commodities, tens to several hundreds of generators of between about 125kW and 1mW mounted on flatbeds, mobile homes and time sensitive, oversize and project-type cargo. An ISB may also host other Federal (e.g., US Army Corps of Engineers, US Forest Service) and State agencies working under FEMA direction.
The focus is on several types of activity:
1. Staging of disaster commodities as broadly defined above. Shipments could originate in FEMA or Defense Logistics Agency centers or at vendors, be staged at the ISB for several days and sent onward to points of distribution for use by disaster survivors or in support of critical facilities
2. Unloading, load testing and dispatch of generators by FEMA, US Army Corps of Engineers or contractor personnel
3. Limited cross-docking of commodities and dispatch of LTL-type shipments
Attributes of a candidate facility would include:
1. The ability to manage an area as an impromptu trucking terminal, with the area having paved surfaces with lighting and fencing, good freeway and road access and nearby loading docks and/or trans-loading facilities
2. One or two entry points to serve as "gates" at which trucks are processed
3. Sufficient area to angle-park trucks in rows, as in a conventional truck terminal
4. A separate 2 -3 acre area in which flatbed mounted generators are processed
As you do your logistics planning you might start looking around for spaces that fit the needs identified above so you have them in your hip pocket, or better yet, written down as potential sites and also plotted on a map. Then when the time comes, you'll be ready for the Federal help that is coming.
