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HAB International

HAB International, formed in 1980, has been the official southern African dealership for the Rapiscan range of products for more than 20 years. The company was initially directed towards the supply of airport security equipment, and subsequently became involved with special vehicles, airport crash trucks, and a variety of custom-built fire fighting vehicles.

The company has been installing, servicing and supporting X-ray equipment and metal detectors around the country for more than 20 years.

Rapiscan Security Products, together with METOR, is a wholly owned subsidiary of OSI, a multinational company, and was recently awarded the tender from the FAA for the supply of 800 X-ray machines for all USA airports. This tender was primarily won on the basis of the advanced TIP program developed by Rapiscan, and approved by both the FAA and the UK DETR. In addition Rapiscan was awarded both the French Airports tender and the major tender for in excess of 100 X-ray machines for the British Airports Company (BAC).

Says D B Scott of HAB International, "The HAB/Rapiscan technical team are all UK factory trained and hold Rapiscan official accreditation certificates. All our X-ray category technicians are licensed by the Department of Health in terms of the relevant Government notice."

Adds Scott, "The company has recently installed Rapiscan X-ray equipment in Nigeria, and at all seven airports in Greenland, as well as supporting installations in every city in SA, and most of southern Africa, including international airports. The company was recently awarded the contract for supplying X-ray machines to Matsapha Airport, Maseru Airport, and for cargo screening machines in Cape Town and Johannesburg Freight Forwarders."

The company was also awarded the state tender for the supply of X-ray machines to all the state prisons under a pilot project scheme, a project which is on-going, he adds. According to Scott, the company also manufactures its own walk-through and handheld metal detectors, and has been successful in all state tenders in the past two years, with sales exceeding 5000 units.

"In terms of the company's manufacturing ability, it has built in excess of 300 different types of vehicles, from special riot control units, to airport RIV's and the high-tech command control vehicles recently built for Pretoria Metro, Tygerberg City and Mossel Bay," says Scott. "In addition the company maintains a high level of technical manufacturing expertise, scoring a world first developing the use of materials such as HEXLITE, a high-tech aerospace composite material, into the body structures of many of these projects."

Rapiscan have recently granted the company a concession, subject to quantity requirements, to locally assemble the Rapiscan X-ray machines in South Africa, with the intention to be the supply link for the African region. The initial phase will consist of units in CKD kit form, (completely knocked down), but with body panels, conveyor belting, lead curtains and some electronics from local sources, all with the necessary ISO rating.

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