The harbor at Dover has been in constant use for cross-channel traffic since the Bronze Age, with a lighthouse built by the Romans still visible on the cliffs to the east of town. Dover Harbour Board was established by King James I in 1606 and is responsible for the administration, maintenance and improvement of the harbor at Dover.
As northern Europe's largest passenger ferry and cruise port, and one of the world's busiest drive-on, drive-off terminals, Dover now handles around 2.6 million cars, 14.7 million passengers, 1.8 million freight vehicles and some 19 million tons of freight per annum. It supports 6,700 jobs in port operations, processing and regulatory authorities and 3,000 jobs in indirect supplier businesses, and it has approximately 60,000 staff, all requiring access to port facilities throughout the year.
The Old System
One of the main points of entry into and exit from the United Kingdom, the Port of Dover
requires an effective access control system to assist with border security. To this end it has two
security zones: the restricted zone and the controlled zone. The restricted zone is an area within
the docks next to the sea. People allowed within it are the travelling public, whose tickets for
sailings act as passes, and staff working directly with ships or their cargo. The controlled zone is
for office staff and others with legitimate business in the docks.
Passes are the primary means of access control, and these are presented to readers at the gates. The previous access control system was mostly built from off-the-shelf components, with the exception of the software required to operate the gate controllers. The system consisted of pedestrian turnstiles both full height and waist level, and swing-arm vehicle barriers triggered by reading a pass or by signals from transponders mounted on vehicles that are read as the vehicle passes over a loop in the road. In the offices there were magstripe readers and keypad locks. This technology was aging quickly, however. Some parts were getting hard to source, and the growing port now had additional security requirements. So the decision was taken to review the access control system.
A project team was appointed under the leadership of Nigel Shepherd, for Feasibility, and Debbie Lawther, for Implementation, which set about talking to people who used the system, the pass issuers and staff on the gates of the restricted zones, as well as to other stakeholders including ferry operators and statutory authorities who employ the staff who work in the port. The new system had to meet ICT technical standards, carry forward the good features of the old system and improve on them, whilst eliminating the more problematic aspects of the old system. Since most access readers were located outside, exposed to the elements, the first requirement was to minimize electro-mechanical components, which were expensive to maintain. The continual swiping of cards through the indoor readers was fast wearing out the cards, and the keypad door locks in the offices had become inconvenient. The security code was changed on a regular basis as the best available measure of security, but that meant visiting each door each time the code was changed. There were similar maintenance problems with the vehicle barriers and pedestrian turnstiles outside.
The Pass Office was responsible for all permanent passes under the old access system, but gate staff could also issue visitor passes, which could delay traffic. A primary requirement for the new system, therefore, was to centralize all pass issuing in one place.
While the old permanent passes showed the image of the pass holder, the more than 48,000 visitor passes issued each year had no such image. They identified the holder as a legitimate visitor, but nothing more. The decision was taken to have pass holder images on all passes. Then there were freight and coach drivers, and drivers of regular supplier vehicles. These people make repeated visits to the port but do not qualify for permanent passes, so the port needed to find a better way of dealing with their access.
The previous access control cards were collected for re-use when they expired. The motorised readers did this very well; they simply kept expired cards, which could then be collected and re- issued. The annual budget was for 5,000 replacement visitor cards, and it was calculated that on average, a visitor pass card was reused three times. Most went out only twice, and none did more than 20 trips. The benefit of the magstripe cards was their cheapness and, with the motorised readers, their ability to be re-collected.
Running costs for the new system needed to be in line with the costs of the old operation. The system needed to feel secure to users, and it had to offer reusable cards. The project team wanted more than just a good replacement system; they wanted a system that offered extendibility and integration. They needed a system that could provide access control now with the option of adding other functions, such as time-and-attendance and cashless vending, at a later date. They also wanted other areas where services were provided, such as in the Cruise Terminals and in the Marina, to run with the same technology.
The Move to Contactless
Having evaluated all of the above, the project team were faced with two options: to remain with
a contact-based system or move to a contactless smart card system. Moving to a high-coercivity
magstripe system would have addressed the problem of accidental erasures, but the read/write
unit failure and the high level of maintenance attention would have continued. This pointed them
in the direction of contactless technology. Since proximity readers have no moving parts, they
are more robust. There would be no erasure problems, and smart cards can have a life of 50,000
uses.
A visit to the IFSEC Security Solutions show introduced the team to several suppliers offering integrated solutions, and five were invited to tender. After evaluation of the tenders, First City Care was chosen to supply software from Geoffrey Industries, since it met the port's functional and technical requirements. Legic was selected to supply the RFID smart card technology, since it offered the best value and it was available in formats that gave the project team the flexibility they required.
The port also decided to become a Legic License Partner. The coding of a Legic smart chip involves the use of a master code, and as a licence partner the port would hold its own master code. This made them independent when it came to developing card use for purposes other than access control.
With all the major issues sorted out, work could begin. Access would have to operate with both old and new readers during the phased installation of the new system. Two pass stations for new passes were set up, and one for magstripe cards to copy data from old passes to new. The initial aim was to issue 200 passes a day, and within two months 8,000 new passes had been issued. Meanwhile, new readers and reader controllers were installed by First City Care, and Dover Harbour Board took care of the cabling. Doors, pedestrian turnstiles and all the vehicle gates soon followed.
Success Story
Project team leader for Implementation Debbie Lawther commented, "We're delighted with our
new access control system. Running costs are lessening, management reporting is more
accessible, and maintenance is easier, quicker and cheaper."
"We've lost the automatic collection of visitor passes we had with the old magstripe system, but the voluntary return process is working very well. We've had a visitor pass being used an average of 8.3 times, with one card making 39 trips! And even if a pass is lost it cannot be re- used because of the control in the software as well as the image of the holder."
So what of the future? There are a lot of possibilities, said Lawther. "The time-and-attendance project is considering use of the contactless cards; and our security staff is investigating the use of hand-held card monitors. We may extend the access control system to other areas of the port, both buildings and for car and lorry parking, and we could introduce cashless vending for staff in the canteen.
"Our major customers, the ferry operators, have shown interest in sharing our smart cards, so staff would need to carry only one pass and we could use the system for building security for our tenants. All these applications will need cost-justifying business cases and budget approval, but the project team is sure that with our new contactless smart card technology from Legic we've provided the basis for the Port of Dover to have security of access control for a long time to come."
Stephen Neff is vice president of sales and marketing for Legic Identsystems Ltd. Mr. Neff is responsible for Legic's international sales and marketing activities and acts as liaison with more than 140 external cooperation partners worldwide who offer compatible Legic-based applications including access control, cashless payment, parking and e-ticketing.
