Safety is part of the port services
“Although the safety measures of ports are guided by a number of international and national regulations, the foundation of safety in the port lies above all in attitudes and anticipation”, says Antti Pekanheimo, Chief Operating Officer of the Port of Turku.
”Port safety comprises of a number of areas, and their overall management will protect people, vessels and property as well as the environment from accidents, damage and criminal activities. Thus safety also plays an important role as part of the Port of Turku’s customer service”, Antti Pekanheimo explains the underlying factors of port safety.
The responsibility for the general port safety lies with the port administrator, although many other companies that provide services to the vessel traffic and cargo transports also operate in the port area. Thus it is important to make everything work in the way required by rules and regulations. The Port of Turku aims at that both by providing training and guidance and by enhancing supervision.
Securitas is the new partner in the guarding of the port area
Since the beginning of October, the night-time guarding of the port from 9.30 p.m. – 6.30 a.m. has been the responsibility of Securitas Oy. The agreement was made through competitive bidding and covers the surveillance of the entire port area from Forum Marinum all the way to Pansio. Thanks to the agreement, the Port
of Turku is able to offer its customers even better area surveillance services. Senad Slipic works as a supervisor of Securitas in the Port of Turku and says that the port is a challenging operating environment.
“The extent of the port area presents its challenges to surveillance and guarding, and we aimed to solve them by updating our ways of working. Guarding in different parts of the port is mainly done using CCTV, which is complemented with guards that tour the entire area. A key objective is to prevent the access and unauthorised moving about in the port area of outside persons that have no access pass, and to ensure quick reactions to different alarms. In addition to night-time guarding we perform random security checks of vehicles in the day-time especially to ensure that no dangerous items or substances are taken to vessels”, Senad Slipic says.
New camera system allows for quicker reactions to exceptional situations
To enhance security services, the CCTV system of the Port of Turku was renewed completely. In the new system the alarms come directly from the cameras in which artificial intelligence will spot unauthorised persons moving about in the area.
”Thanks to motion sensors the Securitas supervisor working in the control room will immediately receive information about the situation and can quickly send the guards to the right place. Recordings of all events are also available, which allows on demand for further investigations of the events together with different authorities”, Antti Pekanheimo, Chief Operating Officer of the Port of Turku, says about the benefits of the new CCTV system.
Text: Kari Ahonen
Photos: Markku Koivumäki
