SECURITY BRIEFING

Port surveillance systems and equipment must be cost-effective, dependable, able to operate in potentially severe weather conditions in a maritime environment, require minimum maintenance and repair and have the availability of a prompt repair response when necessary.

DSSL takes a closer look

CVSS’s sister company, DSSL, has launched a CCTV system that monitors and follows activities by automatically driving pan-and-tilt cameras without an operator.The CloseView video appliance allows unattended operations to capture close-ups of an incident. It acts as an electronic watchman, watching the wide-angle video, and when there is a detected motion in the field of view,it automatically directs the camera to zoom in and look at the “activity”. It also deploys an alarm output to trigger recording, so faces, number plates and other items are clearly recorded for later review.

Environmental focus for PureTech

Recent installations by PureTech have included Catalyst’s Crofton Mills deepsea port facility, and the company has also just completed an installation at a major sea port in the northwest US, which will be formally announced soon. Some of the latest features of PureTech’s PureActiv product line include the Scene Analyzer product, an “economical, environmentally rugged unit” co-located at the camera, which performs video analytics processing and subsequent camera and sensor control.

IP for IndigoVision

A major CCTV upgrade to the Welland Canal section of the St Lawrence Seaway has been completed using IndigoVision’s VideoBridge IP-Video technology. The 27-mile Welland Canal connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and there is remote surveillance of the vertical lifts at the eight locks along the route. When additional remote surveillance at Bridge No. 11 was required, a new approach was needed, as the analogue fibre network used for the existing video had no spare capacity. IndigoVision supplied 16 VB8000 MPEG-4 quality video transceivers. These digitally compress and transmit the camera video and control data over a newly-installed IP network to the seaway’s central control room, a distance of over six miles. The video is then converted back to analogue and fed to the existing monitors. “Any new system had to be transparent to the traffic control centre users; they should not be able to distinguish between the quality of existing analogue video and the new digital feeds,” says Andrew Nolan, electrical engineer at the seaway.”The initial phase of the project has been so successful that it is our long-term goal to move all of the CCTV and security systems across to the IP network.”

Port personnel targeted

A number of shipowner and shipmanager clients were worried that all their efforts to make ships secure would be wasted unless port personnel were organised and trained to a similar standard, says Len Holder, chairman of training specialist Videotel Marine International. At the same time, contacts in the International Labour Organization and the International Maritime Organisation were seeking a way to provide worldwide port security to a high standard. “The result of collaboration between all the parties involved was the production of the interactive, computer-based training course, which forms the basis of official Port Facility Security Officer (PFSO) accreditation, as called for under the ISPS Code.” Videotel has also produced a “Know Your Port” video for port workers, covering global port security and the potential threats faced by ports throughout the world. UN praise for ICTSI Representatives of the Counter- Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) of the UN Security Council have cited ICTSI’s Manila International Container Terminal for its security measures, following a recent visit. MICT,which handles 65% of the Port of Manila’s international container volume, has a digital port surveillance system with 200 separate cameras around the terminal. CTED-UNSC’s report noted that “the MICT showed a tight system of controls, based on perimeter fencing and zone segregation, use of closed circuit monitoring, pass system and screening and scanning equipment of those seeking entry into the facility”.