48-WCN-Feb09:Layout 1 24/2/09 15:35 Page 1
WorldCargo
CONTAINER SECURITY
news
screening systems to enhance its security organisations, in the US stitute of Technology for the agents. The aim is to provide a con-
checkpoint security. and worldwide. project. At the same time, L-3 is troller at a central location that can
Meanwhile, L-3 Security and also continuing to develop its interface with ship-based alarms,
Military aid Detection Systems, another estab- Cargo Advanced Automated Ra- but also be capable of providing au-
SAIC (Science Applications Inter- lished US-based provider of non- diography System (CAARS), an dible/visual alarms at remote loca-
national Corp) is also benefitting intrusive inspection systems, has initiative also funded by the tions via a display unit.
from a new round of US business, recently been awarded a contract DHS/DNDO. CAARS utilises Four designs of detector are
having secured a US$97M order by the Domestic Nuclear Detec- dual energy X-ray sources and is initially to be provided by Smiths
from the US Army in January 2009. tion Office (DNDO) of the DHS. designed to automatically detect Detection for military evaluation
This will cover deliveries of the Placed at end-2008, the order is shielded materials of high-den- and, if successful, there is a long-
company’s Military Mobile VACIS valued at US$8.5M and covers the sity, such as special nuclear mate- term potential for the IPDS II
inspection system and also includes development of a secondary in- rials, hidden inside containers. programme to fund production
servicing/maintenance. This spection system that detects nuclear Over US$15M of funding has al- worth up to US$50M. Smiths De-
ruggedised mobile unit can rapidly materials hidden within contain- ready been awarded to cover re- tection was a natural candidate for
generate digital images of the cargo ers that have not been picked up search into CAARS. this research as it has already pro-
SAIC has developed a ruggedised version of its Mobile Vacis unit for the US Army
content of containers/vehicles, in the primary inspection. Financ- vided shipboard detection hard-
thereby enabling military person- ing has been made available Chemical threats ware to over 10 countries, in ad- higher-rated stationary systems, and orders, valued at a combined
nel to check for weapons, explo- through the Shielded Nuclear US-based Smiths Detection, dition to more than 130,000 10 gantry units to customers in US$17M, for its Eagle Portal high-
sives and other threats. Production Alarm Resolution (SNAR) pro- whose HCV range of container chemical detection monitors glo- Europe. A further six, also of the energy X-ray and GaRDS
is to be carried out at the SAIC gramme, with use being made of scanners is amongst the best bally, and has demonstrated an gantry type, went for end-use in (Gamma Ray Detection System)
facility near San Diego and will L-3’s material discrimination ex- known in the world, has also been ability to produce hardware/tech- the US. container/cargo inspection equip-
undergo delivering throughout the pertise and powerful detection al- working recently with the US De- nology capable of withstanding This compared with the sale ment. This is destined for two un-
next two years. gorithms. partment of Defense on the de- the toughest military conditions. of 22 HCV machines by Smiths disclosed overseas customers and
The military variant was devel- The relocatable device will op- velopment of new technology to The principal objective has been Detection in 2006 and an impres- follows the placement of almost
oped from the existing VACIS unit, erate by identifying and “finger detect chemical threats. to marry together two of the com- sive 85 during the boom year of US$50M worth of business dur-
which utilises a gamma-ray energy printing” nuclear isotopes, which The company’s military division pany’s existing product designs. 2007, when Europe received a ing April, June and August 2008,
source, but is built into an armoured allows the system to distinguish real was selected early in 2008 to par- record 50 of the mobile design and covering GaRDS machinery des-
high-mobility multi-purpose dangers from normal cargo types ticipate in the first phase of Incre- Holding up four stationary units. HCV-M tined for the US Army and sev-
wheeled vehicle suited for remote and ensures that any container con- ment Two of the Improved Point Sales of Smiths Detection’s HCV equipment also went to clients in eral Eagle units supplied to Cus-
locations and capable of providing cealing a well-masked threat is not Detection System (IPDS II) pro- equipment, which is produced in Africa (16 units), South America toms agencies to assist their check-
better protection. SAIC has pro- cleared for acceptance. gramme, which is concerned with Europe, also held up relatively well (eight) and Asia (seven) through- ing of containers/vehicle at vari-
duced hundreds of its VACIS units L-3 is currently performing the development of shipboard during 2008. A further 15 mobile out 2007. The more flexible and ous land borders.
in the past 15 years for use by mili- technical experiments in partner- equipment suited for detecting the (HCV-M) versions were supplied lower-costing HCV-M scanner The Eagle is another mobile
tary and customs agencies and other ship with the Massachusetts In- presence of chemical warfare into Africa, together with two remains a popular buy for Cus- scanner design, suited for rapid de-
toms and other security organisa- ployment and fast turnaround and
tions and is likely to receive a fur- its manufacture is now centred at
ther boost as the US regulatory a recently opened factory in
deadline draws nearer. North Carolina.
Another supplier active in the
current market is Rapiscan Sys- Radiation detector
tem Inc, which is the high-secu- Rapiscan has also been busy in the
rity product manufacturing arm nuclear detection field and, like L-
of OSI Systems Inc, a US provider 3, is benefiting from a close asso-
of specialised electronic products ciation with the DHS/DNDO.
for the security/healthcare indus- Following the placement of an
tries). Rapiscan has just gained two initial US$14M contract in April
Astrium’s black box
alternative to scans
One way to handle the future cargo description can be transmit-
need for cargo inspection on a ted in real time to the destination
very large scale, but without seri- port, with import containers duly
ously disrupting traffic flow or cleared by customs without the
port organisation, could be to fit need for costly and time-consum-
every container with a permanent, ing procedures.
built-in detection device. The security concept supports
This approach is being inves- existing regulations associated
tigated by Astrium GmbH, the with the WCO-backed Author-
German subsidiary of EADS (Eu- ised Economic Operator (AEO)
ropean Aeronautic Defence and programme and also provides
Space Co), which is working in complete container access control
collaboration with terminal op- through personal authorisation,
erator Eurogate and freight for- which is a requirement of C-
warder, Hellmann Worldwide Lo- TPAT (Customs-Trade Partner-
gistics (HWL), on the develop- ship Against Terrorism).
ment of a unique “all-in-one” The SeCureSystem creates
black box detector. electronic shipping documents to
According to Astrium, such a provide information such as con-
device could eliminate the need to tent details, arrival data and state
carry out individual X-ray scanning of container integrity. It then
and checking for specific chemical transmits this data, again in real
threats (such as explosives) within time, to a control centre to per-
congested port areas. Astrium is mit the targeted and selective for-
leading the Bremerhaven-based warding of information to the
consortium and aiming to combine process partners.
localised RFID (Radio Frequency A successful initial trial of the
Identification) technology with SeCure System was carried out in
global satellite communications, 2007, involving transatlantic con-
using IRIDIUM and cost-effective tainer shipments, with the moni-
GSM connections, to create its toring unit subsequently undergo-
SeCureSystem. ing development at Astrium’s facili-
This smart and secure logistics ties in Bremen. This is also to be
management tool will travel with the location for the planned con-
the container and is being de- trol centre, from where targeted se-
signed to offer worldwide, and curity and asset/trade management
ground-independent, position de- services will be provided.
termination by way of GPS to Astrium explained that its ear-
enhance security, optimise capac- lier product evaluation had been
ity utilisation and improve the very favourable and indicated that
flow of information between rel- SeCureSystem offers a new level of
evant parties. In this way, it will security against theft and the risk
be able to respond to the demand of terrorist attack, while also mak-
for more efficient processing, with ing logistics’ planning more reliable
particular reference to maintain- and significantly reducing the time
ing high security alongside grow- spent on administrative processing
ing throughput volumes. at destination ports. This is made
Real-time data transfer is to be possible because of the highly se-
effected by way of communica- cure coding technologies built into
tion satellites, giving a global avail- the system, which enable it to use
ability of data/documents the most cost-effective communi-
throughout the entire transfer cation pathways that are currently
route. Changes in the route or available. a74
48 February 2009
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52