“The new fencing that this grant will provide helps us better control access to the terminal,” said Dan Pippenger, Marine Security Manager. “Unauthorized access from the river and the shoreline is an increasing concern, not only for the Port’s facilities, but for others in the area.”
The grant is funded by the Department of Homeland Security through the Urban Area Security Initiative—a federal program that helps fund large, complex homeland security projects that benefit an entire urban region, such as response vehicles or region wide communications.
The Urban Area Security Initiative Finance Committee, a regional group that awards these types of grants, announced in late January that approximately $1.7 million in funding was available from the previous fiscal year. The Port received a notice about the opportunity and Mike Patterson, Emergency Manager, worked together with Pippenger on the successful response. Other projects in the region also received grant funding.
The new fencing project is funded in full, supplementing an additional $3 million in security upgrades already made and in progress at the marine terminals over the past couple of years. This investment has included cameras integrated with analytics, networking infrastructure, additional fencing, new gatehouses and access controls. There have also been training and equipment enhancements. Since September 2006, the Port has increased from 19 to 26 marine security officers while adding a second marine security superintendent.
