Wightlink ferries between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight carry almost 4.5 million holiday-makers and Islanders a year. In a normal year Wightlink would complete about 45,000 sailings over three routes; six vehicle and passenger ferries and two passenger-only FastCats.
Hanwha Techwin Europe’s Managing Director Bob (H.Y.) Hwang Ph.D., recently travelled to Portsmouth to see how Wisenet cameras are being used by Wightlink in almost every aspect of their day-to-day operations. He was accompanied by Jeff (Chae Won) Lee, the company’s Sales Director; and Senior Strategic Sales Manager, Jon Hill. Over 260 Wisenet cameras have already been installed around Wightlink’s Portsmouth and Lymington facilities, as well as on three of the company’s ships. Some of the cameras are for verifying any health and safety incidents, in one of the terminals or on board ships.
On the bridge, Wightlink’s crew are also making good use of the high definition images from the weather-proof cameras mounted at the bow and stern of the ships, to aid precision in docking. Cameras supporting ANPR have also been deployed at various locations for identification and tracking of vehicles.
The day was organised by Jim Kernahan, Managing Director of the IP network video system integrator Trellisworks. He said: “The visit provided an excellent opportunity for Bob (H.Y.) Hwang and his colleagues to see how the Wisenet cameras were being put to good use. However, our prime objective was to meet with members of the Wightlink team to explore how Trellisworks and Hanwha Techwin can continue to work in partnership to assist them in capitalising on the latest advances in technology.”
Stuart James, Wightlink’s Marketing and Innovation Director, who has in charge of the company’s strategy of investing in new technologies and systems, gave a guided tour of the company’s Portsmouth harbour facilities and its newest, hybrid energy ferry, Victoria of Wight (pictured). Stuart said: “I was pleased to host the visit and take the opportunity to express our appreciation and satisfaction with how well Trellisworks and Hanwha Techwin have been working together for our benefit. Most importantly, we were able to generate a number of good ideas on how we can build on the success of the existing cameras.”
The discussions which followed the tour focused on how the latest tech might assist Wightlink on safety and security by supporting on shore staff and the ships’ crews, as well as the ‘customer experience’. Among the options considered were specialist video applications, such as passenger counting and queue management which can be run on Wisenet cameras and AI Deep Learning.
Bob (H.Y.) Hwang said: “We are very grateful to Stuart for providing us with a great insight into Wightlink operational requirements and also to the company’s CEO, Keith Greenfield, who kindly took the time to greet us. We are understandably delighted that a prestigious and superbly well-run company such as Wightlink has placed its trust in Hanwha Techwin to provide effective and future proof video security solutions. We are looking forward to working ever more closely with Trellisworks, which is a member of our STEP partnership program, to ensure together we are always able to exceed Wightlink’s expectations.”
Photo courtesy of Wightlink; Victoria of Wight leaves Portsmouth Harbour.
