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Best in class at sea and ashore

With its capacity of 32 million tons per year and water frontage of 6 kilometres, Chernomorsk sea port is one of the largest transport terminals in Ukraine, providing trade links with more than 100 countries all over the world. This port is a part of Eurasian transport corridor connecting the Western European countries, Ukraine, Georgia and the Asian countries.

Its territory embodies the unique multimodal terminal that serves railway-ferry and auto-ferry lines as well as roll-on/roll-off vessels. The mission was to implement round-the-clock monitoring of the port territory and port waters in order to detect violations and prevent them.

Experts from Inlimited suggested fitting the port with thermal technology platforms using 11 Axis network thermal cameras aboard (including models with two sensors: optic and thermal). PTZ cameras with integrated Axis Lightfinder technology are used, among others, for monitoring in challenging light conditions with low object contrast or difficult light sources.

Thermal network cameras support the guard tour function that can be used for continuous monitoring of a particular area according to the pre-set guard tour.

In the context of modernisation, the existing port security system was extended with the following video surveillance solutions: computer-aided continuous visual monitoring of the water frontage, the adjacent port area and the port waters of the Sukhyi Estuary, the area along the port perimeter as well as monitoring of vehicles (via licence plate recognition) and approaches to the mounting locations of the main cameras. The centralised security service control centre offer video analysis capabilities. Video surveillance solutions integrated into a single software and hardware platform provide high-quality digital video real-time record and store the archive for a minimum of 30 days.

Project features

When developing the architectural concept, the integrator considered all the challenging conditions that cameras may encounter at sea and in the maritime area, such as hurricane hazards, lightning strikes, salt air impact, as well as restricted visibility due to fog, heavy rain, snowfall and direct sunlight.

Thermal platforms with Axis PTZ network cameras installed on the top became the ultimate solution for the port. With optical and thermal sensors combined into one system, such a device can substitute a significant number of conventional optical cameras and some of the security alarm system. Hence, the extensive territory of the port was covered by turntables with a total of 11 Axis network cameras: bi-spectral, optical and outdoor.

Security flagship in use

Due to the intelligent capabilities of Axis network cameras, a real-time detection signal is automatically transferred to the operator screen, immediately providing a clear image of an object and ensuring reliable detection under any visibility and weather conditions. Moreover, the system can also detect suspicious objects even before an intrusion attempt.

Automatic systems facilitate the work of security service operators displaying only actual violations, which helps to minimise the percentage of false responses. With this intelligent system, it is possible to immediately recognise a person, car or small-sized watercraft as well as detect possible smoke spread and other abnormal situations. Thus, the security staff has extra time to provide a quick response.

The video surveillance and alarm system of Chernomorsk sea port is integrated with IP-video control system Milestone Xprotect and vehicle licence plate recognition system VIT AutoCode.

“We chose to go with Axis cameras because they are flexible and yet can be customised to solve particular problems. Axis network cameras gained an excellent reputation as a part of the video surveillance system currently operating at the port and for this reason we selected them again for additional security platforms,” noted the Chernomorsk sea port security service.

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