Situation
As the nation’s largest port receiving over 266 million tons of foreign and domestic waterborne cargo, the Port Houston oversees 52 miles of the Houston Ship Channel with over 200 public and private shipping terminals and related storage and infrastructure. The Port Houston Authority is responsible for ensuring the free and safe flow of commerce throughout the region and is instrumental in recovery and support operations during hurricanes and other natural and human-made disasters.
With full-scale police, fire, emergency management, and security departments, Port Houston provides physical, HAZMAT and cyber security services that follow a stringent layered protocol and directly liaise with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, and multiple local and state agencies.
Problem
With physical locations miles apart and a vast contingency of workers and visitors moving throughout the area, Port Houston found the previously implemented critical event management software and alerting system did not adequately integrate with their existing outdoor acoustic speaker system.
To fully meet the needs of their business and to ensure the safety of workers, customers, and visitors, the Port needed better multi-channel communications capabilities with tightly integrated speaker and alert functionality. This is especially necessary with the recurrent threats from hurricanes (specifically Hurricane Harvey, in August 2017), storm surges, sea level rise, and tornadoes.
Solutions
Port Houston standardized with Genasys Protect for both mass notification alerting and outdoor warning speakers. Their system includes 13 Genasys ACOUSTICS speaker nodes activated using Genasys Protect for command and control. Genasys ACOUSTICS provides crystal clear voice instructions throughout the port’s outdoor areas and is fully integrated with Genasys Protect, the foundation for the Port’s comprehensive PortAlert system. This replaced the legacy Blackberry AtHoc mass notification software.
Genasys Protect and the PortAlert system send alerts and emergency notifications to port workers and visitors via SMS, mobile phones, and email, and are instrumental in providing a proactive visitor management solution.
In addition, the Genasys ACOUSTICS outdoor speaker array system with voice and siren alerts, plays a crucial role in delivering audible instructions during all types of emergencies and is vital in reaching individuals working outdoors, those without access to the PortAlert systems, and those living, working, or travelling immediately outside the Port boundaries.
Results
Genasys Protect provides the best solution for Port Houston and the PortAlert system and is fully integrated with the port’s ERP platform for contact management. Port managers can now quickly respond and deploy resources once an incident occurs and provide multichannel communications through SMS, email, texts, as well as through clear outdoor notifications across all terminals. This allows fast response when an incident or security breach occurs anywhere within this vital supply chain system.
Additionally, visitor management services have implemented an SMS opt-in system capable of automatically monitoring the locations and safety status of people visiting the port. The Emergency Management team stands ready to deploy personnel and equipment across the broad system supported by the protective communications solution from Genasys.
