Contract awarded for video surveillance system at ports
LOCAL firm Hawkeye Electronic Security has been awarded the US$684,647 contract to supply and install a security video surveillance system at the Kingston Transshipment Port and the Port of Montego Bay, as the government moves to protect the island’s borders from drugs and arms smugglers.
At the same time, Cabinet on Monday approved a contract for just under US$400,000 to Italian firm, Cavotec Specimas SPA, to upgrade the Gantry Granes at the Kingston container terminal to enable them to operate on electrical power from the public power company rather than on diesel-driven generators. The Italian firm will supply and install five sets of trailing power cable and cable reel systems, according to Information Minister Burchell Whiteman.
Whiteman told yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that the installation of the surveillance system was “in keeping with the increased worldwide focus on air and seaport security and particularly to fulfil the requirement of certification of Jamaica’s two main ports by the United States authorities”.
Said Whiteman: “This system has the capability of providing complete live video surveillance to the entire transshipment port and the Port of Montego Bay, while providing remote surveillance Internet feed of the entire Port of Montego Bay.”
The addition of security surveillance systems at the island’s ports come against the background of the administration’s efforts to counter the narcotics trade, which, it argues, is at the root of crime in Jamaica. With Jamaica’s geographical position between North/South America and Europe, the island has become a major transshipment route for the illegal drug trade.
In addition to its contribution to crime, drug trafficking has threatened the country’s economic growth by contaminating shipments from the island to the Unites States and elsewhere. When drugs are found abroad in containers or cargos that originated or passed through Jamaican ports, the country is penalised and could result in loss of business for the island’s ports.
Whiteman said all the cameras at the ports will be motion sensitive and could trigger remote video-viewing devices, through high-speed Internet services, such as palm pilots and laptop-type devices.
“The system can be viewed in live time from other locations away from the ports as well as from overseas. In addition the system will be monitored by a control centre at each location with back-up sites at each security manager’s office,” said the government spokesman.
He noted that both control centres will be staffed on a 24-hour basis, seven days per week in tandem with the non-stop activities at the ports.
“…however, the system can operate automatically in the event that the centre is unmanned,” Whiteman said. He added that the system was expected to be installed by next year.
The Kingston Transshipment Port, one of the largest in this region, occupying 200 acres, processes 8,000 containers daily. Shipping sources said each container contributed US$150 in revenue to Jamaica, while each additional job on the port generates four indirect jobs in the shipping industry.