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Cargotec Port Security Wins Patent Approval For Spectral Analysis Technology In Singapore

Sep 22, 2009 - News

Cargotec Port Security, in conjunction with strategic partner Innovative American Technology, has been awarded patent approval in Singapore for container scanning technology which uses spectral analysis to verify container contents.

Radiation container scanning is performed in various ways. Some firms utilize threshold analysis for container scanning, which is based on advance knowledge of the radiological mix of goods within the container. Such container scanning has obvious practical limitations from a security standpoint. Spectral analysis methodology, alternatively, does not require advance knowledge of container contents. The United States government, as part of their emerging standards for safe port radiation detection, now requires spectral analysis scanning, as well as the ability to perform neutron detection and gamma detection, during the course of container scanning. The U.S. government recently made the decision to no longer approve the use of 3He tubes to count delayed neutrons during the interrogation of cargo containers to determine the presence of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM). With the elimination of 3He neutron detectors as an approved technology, Cargotec Port Security now has a unique position of competitive advantage due to the approved Innovative American Technology neutron detection component in its spreader-mounted scanning system.

Cargotec Port Security’s successful patent application (PCT 200803752-5) is one of many recent technical validations of CPS technology. Cargotec Port Security technology detects and analyzes, through proprietary software, a particular radiation (gamma, neutron) and then identifies, and distinguishes isotopes from naturally occurring radiological material. Since 2008 Cargotec Port Security equipment has undergone rigorous field evaluations by the US Customs and Border Protection Service, the US Department of Energy Megaport program, and scientists from Pacific Northwest Labs at Port Tacoma and Port Charleston, which resulted in the detection and identification of radiological materials at all points tested across the container. Cargotec Port Security technology has also been successfully evaluated by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the United States Department of Energy Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Cargotec Port Security system placed into service at Port Charleston has already been awarded Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology (QATT) Designation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.


“We are delighted to have been awarded this new patent in the important Singapore market,” says Troy Thompson, President of Cargotec Port Security. “Cargotec Port Security is today in a position of unique competitive advantage, due to the advanced performance of our scanning technologies. Our technical platform is also ideal for use on existing port container handling equipment, which means that scanning need not interfere with the normal velocity of port commerce. Ports need solutions that ensure safety, but without compromising productivity. Our solution does not add ‘an extra security step’ in transhipment and intermodal operations, but performs container scanning in the normal course of spreader operations.”

Cargotec Port Security also recently installed its first spreader-mounted radiation detection system for secure ports at a U.S. container terminal, the facility located at Port Charleston, South Carolina. The Cargotec Port Security equipment at Port Charleston is being used by global security leader Lockheed Martin to complete integration testing of Lockheed Martin’s Container Scanning System. Port Charleston, on the southeast United States coast, is one of the largest container ports in the United States.

The Cargotec Port Security technology platform in the Singapore patent can be installed on crane spreaders, straddle carriers, shuttle carriers, or other mobile equipment, such as on marine vessels engaged in security operations. The Cargotec Port Security spreader-mounted system performs gamma and neutron sensitivity scanning during container movement in the normal course of port operations.

Cargotec Port Security is part of the Cargotec company, which employs nearly 12,000 people and is a leading supplier of container handling equipment to the global port industry.

For further information please contact,
Troy Thompson
President
919-620-1763 x 1
troy.thompson@cargotec.com