The backlog of troops' privately owned vehicles has almost been cleared, according to an analysis of numbers provided by the contractor responsible for shipping troops' cars on reassignment moves to and from overseas.

According to numbers provided by International Auto Logistics, there are 7,722 privately owned vehicles in transit. But it's unclear how many of those vehicles are past their required delivery dates. In the previous six weeks, about 8,000 vehicles had been dropped off by service members or civilians to begin their journey, and generally it takes an average of six weeks for a vehicle to be delivered, depending on where the vehicle is headed.

By comparison, 14,100 vehicles were reported by IAL as being in transit about six weeks ago.

IAL has been plagued by problems virtually from the day it took over the Defense Department contract May 1, with troops complaining about late deliveries and problems tracking vehicles online.

The backlog "has substantially been cleared," said Ken Quinn, IAL's senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Quinn couldn't say how many of the 7,722 vehicles in transit are past their required delivery dates, but said none are "way past" those dates, as they had been previously.

"We think we're in a good place, but want to be better," he said.

U.S. Transportation Command spokeswoman Cynthia Bauer said IAL's performance "is improving, but has not yet reached the 98 percent" on-time delivery rate specified in the contract.

In August, TRANSCOM, which oversees the contract, set up a special team to address the problems, including bottlenecks that had developed at U.S. Customs points due to IAL's incorrect procedures.

Since IAL took over the contract, it has delivered 31,872 vehicles to their owners out of 42,363 that have been dropped off for shipment at processing centers.

With 2,769 vehicles awaiting pickup by owners, that means IAL has 7,722 vehicles in transit.

Quinn asked that troops pick up their vehicles as soon as possible after they are notified of arrival.

"We realize they can't drop everything and go that day," he said, but he noted that destination vehicle processing centers are getting full.

To help accommodate service members, the processing centers can arrange for evening and Saturday appointments.

Vehicle shipments to and from Europe and the U.S. were where the company was seeing the most late deliveries, Quinn said, adding that IAL will make a change in operations within the next few weeks to book directly with ocean carriers to alleviate those issues.

IAL also has been in a dispute over payments with its subcontractor that provides ocean carriage services. At press time, information was not available from either company about whether they had resolved those issues.

Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.

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