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Container depot security

Addressing the problem of inside theft and automated recording of containers as they arrive and depart.

Intelligent Security Systems (ISS) has announced that its South African division has successfully completed an upgrade for a container depot in South Africa that is directly affiliated with a major international shipping company. For reasons of security, details as to the actual depot and client’s name must be kept confidential.

“As with many ports and container depots around the world, inside theft is an ongoing problem in South Africa,” said Eugene Kayat, country manager for ISS South Africa. “In this particular case, the client wanted to address the problem of inside theft as well as have automated recording of when containers arrive and depart, and easy access across the enterprise to video footage related to that.”

The client previously had a vendor who had installed a video surveillance security system that proved highly unsatisfactory as images were unclear and because of that identifying information could often not be seen. “Along with the problem of inside theft, arrival times and departures of cargo were being done manually, which was both time consuming and ineffective from a security standpoint.”

After Kayat and an integrator met with the national security manager of this company, they proceeded with solutions that involved SecurOS Container Recognition and SecurOS Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) so that vehicles and containers could be clearly identified as they entered and left the depot.

ISS has its roots in space technology, which has led to the development of software with highly advanced algorithms. This in turn makes possible a level of intelligence, flexibility and accuracy for video management and analytics that previously was only available for government and military applications. For SecurOS Container Recognition, this translates into the ability to easily read the sides, back and top of containers, and for both SecurOS Container Recognition and SecurOS LPR to be able to read identifying information vertically as well as horizontally, and in the most challenging of weather conditions.

All of these advantages have made a difference for the company involved in this case as they now have a security solution in place in which images are very clear and identifying information can be read on licence plates and the front, sides and backs of containers. “It is crucial in this industry to verify that container seals have not been tampered with,” explained Kayat, “and because of the inherent flexibility and accuracy of our solutions that has become a seamless process for this company.”

The company is currently using two SecurOS Container Recognition solutions and two SecurOS LPR solutions.

The company reports that their operations are now more secure, more efficient. It also reported that rather than just being after the fact forensic tools, that such superior technology is actually being used to prevent theft. The company has indicated plans to expand its use of ISS solutions to several other container depots throughout the country.

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