Page 76 - Security Today, November/December 2018

The Tide of Security
Europe’s second largest seaport relies on open-platform video for security, logistics and environmental protection
BWy Courtney Dillon Pedersen
ith a central location in the industrial heartland of Western Europe and a capacity to handle the world’s largest ships, the port of Antwerp is ex- periencing high traffic both in terms of freight and port users, rendering it impossible for port
authorities to be physically present everywhere, all the time. Covering almost 30,000 acres, the Port of Antwerp is the largest seaport in Belgium and the second largest seaport in Europe. The port faces many daily operational challenges ranging from environ-
mental concerns to safety, security and logistics issues.
Common accidents include oil leaks from ships during refueling and events such as when ships run against the quay or lock walls pier, causing damage that requires repairing. The early detection of oil spills is vital for minimizing the impact on plant and animal life, and for compliance reporting. The ability to document ship/port impact incidents and the resulting damage proves highly important for dis-
pute resolution.
Extending the Coverage
Before installing a networked, open-platform, VMS solution, the Port of Antwerp had a standalone DVR system with no networking
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capabilities and no open platform support, meaning only a limited number of camera brands were supported. Additionally, the previous system only covered certain parts of the vast port area, so events fre- quently occurred in locations that were not monitored by authorities, costing the Port of Antwerp dearly.
With the VMS distributed solution, port authorities can now monitor the entire harbor area from one central location. This pro- vides much better situational awareness enabling much faster detec- tion of unusual events and accidents. Operators can initiate imme- diate mitigating action with early response that limits the impact of the incident.
Integrated Flexibility
The complete solution combines Milestone XProtect Corporate and XProtect Smart Client combined with third-party integrations. A majority of cameras are from Bosch, and the management structure is built on a mixture of IBM (Lenovo), DELL and virtual servers on VMWare.
The solution is very flexible thanks to Milestone Interconnect, which allows XProtect systems to be joined to the network. This supports the Port of Antwerp to easily expand the solution to cover
CARGO SECURITY