Optimising port security for the Drecht cities

As important links in the transport chain, international and national ports and large flows of freight are a vulnerable target for criminal and terrorist threats. The International Maritime Organization (a UN agency) at global level and the European Union at European level have drawn up safety directives for maritime security to protect against direct and indirect threats. Royal Haskoning is helping the Drechtsteden local authority with the next step: the total security of port areas as an (obligatory) extension to the ISPS (International Ship Port Facility Security) code.

‘In order to achieve safe and secure ports we are advising Drechtsteden local authority about optimizing their port security and about its implementation,’ explains Berte Simons. She is a consultant at Royal Haskoning and has managerial experience in several port local authorities and with port authorities. ‘This wider, quality-enhancing approach has to protect not just the individual terminals but the entire port more intensively. Royal Haskoning works for private and public parties at various levels. For example, we also help terminals, oil and gas groups and ship-owners with the implementation of their security plans. We look at where the weak spots are, train people and rehearse emergency situations. This autumn we were commissioned by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works to support smaller inland ports, too, in the implementation of the obligatory extension to the ISPS code.’ Niek Ooijevaar, head of nautical management of Dordrecht local authority and appointed as Port Security Officer for the Drecht cities, is finding it a big advantage that Berte Simons has a lot of managerial experience as well as experience in the field of company certification. ‘Port security is an extremely specific field. There are only a few people who have acquired the expertise in this discipline right from the word go, and Berte Simons is one of them. Royal Haskoning is helping us to formulate documents for our port security plan and its implementation. If other ports want to get information from me about port security, I will refer them to her with confidence.’

Contact: Berte Simons
+31 (0)10 2865 463
b.simons@royalhaskoning.com

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