Charleston port installs surveillance equipment

The installation, which includes over 150 fixed and PTZ day/night cameras, was carried out by I-Sys Corporation at the Columbus Street terminal and North Charleston terminal. The equipment will target both water and land intrusion and will use the PureActiv map based VMS and its geospatial video analytics to command and control positioning of the camera. This will allow an exact latitude and longitude to be viewed that may be triggered from a detection event or a direct command from an operator.

Eric Olson, vice president of marketing, PureTech Systems, told Port Strategy: “The port required a solution that successfully addressed a marine environment; one that remained in near constant motion between ship, vehicle and foot traffic. It needed a system that could reliably detect and monitor disturbances at the perimeter, from point of attack through incident resolution.”

Jeff Brown, security programme manager, South Carolina State Ports Authority, added: “At the very core, port operations and port security are 180˚ out of phase because operations want to move cargo as quickly as possible. It’s all based on turn times, but you’ve got shipping lines that rely on the Port Authority to securely transfer their cargo and 105 Regulations to comply with, so Port Police needs the security of the terminal ensured.”

The installation of the systems at the Port of Charleston, which operates five deep water terminals, marks the completion of the second phase of the port’s multi facility security expansion plan.