Our May 2016 print issue of Professional Security magazine features Denis Murphy and Paul Grainge, pictured right to left, the head of group security, and security manager, at Teesport on the River Tees in Middlesbrough. Denis after more than 16 years at the port is going part-time. Our February 2016 print issue reported that Denis was going to retire; but that’s changed, and he’ll still be around, while Paul does the day to day security management.
Briefly about the two men; Paul, who’s worked at the port for 30 years, since leaving school, was a speaker at the Professional Security magazine conference ST15 Newcastle in July 2015, featured in our September 2015 print issue; Denis is a Chartered Security Professional, who first featured in our March 2011 print issue.
The department takes the view on technology that ‘we never turn anyone away’ trying to sell them things, whether CCTV or PIDS (perimeter intruder detection systems). Apart from cost, a complication at Teesport can be that its perimeter does not run in a straight line, and you have moving cargo. Dock management might say that they need CCTV footage of an incident; they are used to seeing CCTV on the television, from such American police shows as Hawaii 5-0 or NCIS, that gives the impression it’s covering everywhere, all of the time. If an incident is captured on CCTV, it may be grainy, however. The company is replacing its old cameras with Hikvision products, ‘but we are not adverse to looking at other people’.
It has also Pelco cameras, for instance. Why the Chinese manufacturer? Paul says that the department took advice from their supplier, VSS: “They put us on to Hikvision; they are a cheap alternative, and when I say cheap, I don’t mean cheap.” By that Paul means cheap on price, but still of quality. He adds: “We have had no issues with Hikvision cameras and some of the solutions we have used them for have been excellent, and a lot cheaper than when we put the original systems in.” The port is also using several Hikvision digital recorders, while still depending heavily on the Pelco Endura video management product.
About Teesport
The port on the River Tees at Middlesbrough handles over 5000 vessels each year and around 40 million tonnes of cargo; its estate covers some 779 acres.
