The company encountered only one cancellation of an already awarded rather small gate automation project, and had to delay the execution of the second implementation phase in another project (execution is now planned for this year). This was however very well compensated with numerous new projects that were perhaps smaller in size but with high complexity and high accuracy requirements. A similar story is told by Hong Kong-based AsiaVision who say that due to the worldwide economic crisis some projects are on hold or have been scaled down. A spokesperson for Hi-Tech Solutions, Israel, tells the same story, commenting: “OCR applications are usually part of ports’ security arrangements, and security is always a top priority, even in recession times. We have noticed some delays in planned projects, and some plans were changed, but generally OCR projects continued to be conducted even during the economic downturn.”
Where next?
According to Camco, terminal operators are today no longer looking at expanding their terminal capacity, but are rather looking for systems and solutions that allow them to work more efficiently, more accurately, and with increased flexibility whilst reducing their operating costs. “Gate systems are no longer needed to handle ever growing container volumes, but should be capable of being very flexible to handle variable volumes as shipping companies tend to switch more rapidly from one operator to another if conditions are better,” says Anton Bernaerd, Business Development Manager at Camco. This means that the gates should be organised in such a flexible way that the same amount of systems, equipment and personnel can be used to handle these variable volumes. Otherwise, says Bernaerd, operators are requiring cost-effective gate solutions that allow terminals to handle high volumes in a very fast and accurate way with minimum resources in personnel and equipment. And this is exactly what Camco offers with its comprehensive AutoGate solution combining its high accuracy OCR systems (a single system can handle up to 500 trucks per hour), self-service kiosk systems to automate the administrative checks and its state-of-the-art Gate Operating System (GOS) to command and manage all gate processes and interfacing with TOS and other host systems. In 2009 Camco was able to further improve and extend its GOS system “making it the most complete and effective gate automation solution available in the market today,” says Bernaerd. Besides the comprehensive AutoGate truck gate solutions, in 2009 Camco was also able to improve and increase the number of installations of train OCR systems. The company attributes this success to the exceptional image and OCR quality of the camera system, in combination with the unique rail car segmentation system and the innovative graphical operator console that “allows an easy and safe visually check and validation of all train and container data.” As operators are investing more and more in rail, it is clear that train OCR solutions are becoming an important second product line for Camco.
Innovation
Looking back over the last five years AsiaVision believes that the single most important technological innovation to be made in the OCR market is the Network Camera. Flora Law, Sales General Manager/Asia Pacific, AsiaVision says that he high resolution (1.3M to 5M pixels) gives better quality and the fact that only the network card is needed thereby eliminating additional video capture cards is a real advantage. Also, says Law, the cable is longer and cheaper (100M, Cat5 cable) in comparison to cable for digital cameras which could be several meters in length and involve higher costs. The direct control of camera parameters through the same network cable is also cited as an advantage by AsiaVision. In terms of innovation Hi-tech Solutions believe that the technology is maturing, and customers “are expecting very high performance and reliability. Other add-on optional features such as damage inspection, IMO label, are increasingly being taken from granted.” Testimony to all this innovation and improvement is the respectable list of orders that all three companies report despite these trying times. Recent orders (last six months) highlighted by Camco include a double Train OCR Camera system plus double Truck OCR Camera system for BNSF Memphis; 4 Truck OCR Camera systems at BNSF Willow Springs: 2 Truck OCR Camera systems for BNSF San Bernardino; an AutoGate system (including OCR camera systems, kiosks, GOS) for Combinant Antwerpen; AutoGate Automatic Outgate systems (OCR and kiosk systems) for DP World Germersheim; AutoGate system replacing current ESC gate system (OCR, kiosks and GOS) at APMT – Zeebrugge; Double Train OCR Camera system for PSA HNN, Zeebrugge; AutoGate system (OCR, kiosks and GOS) for Transnet South Africa – Ngqura Terminal and last but not least AutoGate (OCR, kiosks, GOS) for Piraeus Container Terminal. Among Hi-Tech’s successes are orders for gate systems from the Port of Mersin -Turkey, Marseilles – France, Ashdod- Israel and a gate system for a customer in Vietnam. Also received is an order for an OCR system on a crane for Algeciras, Spain. In the USA Hi-Tech worked together on Tideworks Technology’s project conducted for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway’s Automated Gate System (AGS) at the Seattle International Gateway. Over the last six months, AsiaVision installed a 14-lane container number recognition system at Gate 2 in the Port of Singapore. A similar system was installed at different stations in Zhengzhou, Chongqing and Dalian on behalf of CRIntermodal of China. The complete gate automation solution included the integration of OCR, RFID, container damage inspection, LED real time message display, intercom, barrier gate control and numerous traffic lights.