New Operations and Security Centre

[DENelson83]

www.bcferries.com/bcferries/faces/attachments?id=112070

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For Immediate Release
09-045
June 23, 2009

BC FERRIES UNVEILS NEW OPERATIONS AND SECURITY CENTRE

VICTORIA – BC Ferries unveiled its new Operations and Security Centre (OSC) to the media
today. This state-of-the-art facility will assist the company in monitoring its operations up and
down the coast, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

The OSC is designed to enhance the safety and security of BC Ferries’ operations as well
as improve customer service by overseeing the operations from a strategic perspective.
Equipped with 400 cameras and another 400 to follow, the OSC is the “nerve centre” for
providing support to day-to-day operations.

The facility provides real-time situational awareness, security monitoring, incident
response, customer service updates and recovery action plans. The OSC will assist field
operations by responding to safety, security or environmental incidents, mechanical failures and
severe weather or other service interruptions.

“The Operations and Security Centre provides an integrated approach to better manage
the flow of traffic and to improve our ability to keep our customers, employees and assets safe
and secure,” said Mike Corrigan, BC Ferries’ Executive Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer. “In addition, in an emergency situation, the new facility allows the frontline staff to
manage an issue, while OSC staff takes care of all other support functions.”

At the centre, on-time performance and overloads around the fleet are monitored and will
assist BC Ferries in delivering real-time information to passengers. Messages on highway
signage can be changed right at the centre to keep customers approaching the terminals up-to-
date.

The OSC also provides a state-of-the-art Corporate Emergency Centre that can be
activated in response to any potential situations. This will better assist BC Ferries in
coordinating responses with the Provincial Emergency Centre and other emergency agencies.

[Low Light Mike]

I've merged to similar threads into 1. Here's the 2nd thread post, added here to this 1st thread:

Jun 23, 2009 17:51:10 GMT -8 johnnytindale said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? My personal opinion is that it will have very little impact on the day-to-day operations. I would hope that whenever a "situation" develops, BCFS now has no excuse for not notifying the public in a timely fashion. My other thought is that perhaps the crew might feel like this is like a big brother scenario. I would hope that the staff in the control centre don't override the professional judgement of the crew.


Full steam ahead for B.C. Ferries' $9 million operations centre in Victoria
By Matthew Pearson, Times ColonistJune 23, 2009 3:01 PM

B.C. Ferries new, $9-million operations and security centre in Victoria might have prevented the sinking of the Queen of the North had it been in operation at the time, the ferry corporation's chief operating officer said today.

"It certainly would have reduced the probability of it occurring," Mike Corrigan told reporters at the unveiling of the new facility inside the company's headquarters on Fort Street. The centre is able to track ships with Automatic Identification System technology which Corrigan says could reduce the likelihood of a similar incident. Two people died in March 2006 when the ferry sank along B.C.'s North Coast.

The centre came online last month and provides B.C. Ferries with a birds-eye view of its entire operations.

"If there is anything happening out there, we are the first to know about it," he said.

The centre provides staff with real-time surveillance footage from the field and allows them to assist operations by responding to safety, security and environmental incidents, mechanical failures and severe weather or service interruptions.

Corrigan said it means B.C. Ferries will be able to deliver up-to-the-minute information to passengers about traffic flow and potential delays.

The centre looks much like one would think a high-tech facility would appear.

Five individual workstations face a bank of large-screen monitors across the front wall of the room. The dashboard, as the two screens in the centre have been dubbed, records real-time activity and can be controlled by employees from their desks.

On this day, the footage is fairly mundane. A man in a mustard-coloured bicycle jersey is buying a ticket from a drive-up window, a white, 18-wheeler is lining up on the tarmac ready to board and there is a shot of empty parking lanes inside a vessel.

A boardroom adjacent to the security centre can be used for planning meetings in the event of an emergency.

"We can actually feel the pulse of whats going on," said Gregg Clackson, the operations and security centres director.

"The centre will be staffed all day, everyday, all year long."

Clackson said employees working in the centre, including one former captain, are long-time B.C. Ferries staff. The eight positions are not unionized.

The security upgrades will cost B.C. Ferries about $34 million.

The ferry corporation has already installed 400 surveillance cameras in its terminals, ticket counters and vessels, and plans to install an additional 400 cameras.

All of the cameras are monitored by the operations centre.

B.C. Ferries has also installed new perimeter fencing and electronic locks on the doors of bridges and engine rooms.

The focus on ferry security is ramping up as the 2010 Winter Olympics approaches, Corrigan said.

Although the ferry corporation has never faced a credible security threat, he said the enhanced security still makes sense.

"I think its prudent to provide customers with that level of protection," he said.

B.C. Ferries vessels transport about 22 million passengers and eight million vehicles annually, Corrigan said.

[e-mail]

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Monique Turgeon works from her station at B.C. Ferries' $9-million operations and security centre in Victoria.Photograph by: Debra Brash, Times Colonist
www.timescolonist.com/story_print.html?id=1725224&sponsor=

[Curtis]

So I take it that it's going to be much harder to pull a "Graham" now? LOL!

This is positive for current conditions.
Hopefully this will help prevent major incidents from happening before they go beyond the point of no return.
Now that I think about it, the Surrey has been having a lot of trouble keeping on time lately...so has the I-Sky. (maybe to balance out the wait at Langdale? ) Could it be a side-effect of the Operations/Security Centre?

[Northern Exploration]

Many corporations have this sort of facility and many more after 9/11. So much major business was impacted by the closing of Wall Street, and head offices being evacuated, that there is a significant trend to having an operations centre to facilitate situations that crop up.

Canada Post has a massive facility in Ottawa with two side by side rooms. The computer and monitoring room has large wall screens that can track down to the individual Lettertainer (plastic trays with lids that contain mail). They can call up individual Canada Post vehicles and see where they are. So if a Canada Post truck drives off the road somewhere in rural Saskatchewan the Op Centre can tell that.

The room next door looks like something out of the Pentagon or NASA. This is where an emergency can be dealt with, but is also used to have the daily managers meeting. Large screens enable anything from the Op Centre to be called up. All the managers sit around horseshoe shaped tables all with individual screens. People from across the country can be video conferenced in. There are laptop plug ins and and everyone is interconnected. There are a couple of rows of theatre type seats at the back for "observers" who aren't presenting.

I presume during 9/11 when all the aircraft were being grounded this room came into play as Canada Post saw a lot of mail that is carried as cargo, landing in cities it wasn't suppose to.

I am not sure how the sinking of the QoftN would have been avoided unless of course they have someone to track a individual ferry. IE. someone watching a live radar track that would have known in real time that the ship had left its normal course. It is possible alarms could be set that would indicate normal course variation. And I suppose it would be possible to remotely tell if a system was being used on the bridge. I wonder also if some of the live video feeds will be of bridge operations. All of this is technically possible. Seems like operations may become a sort of "Airtraffic Control" of the BC Ferry System monitoring ships activities and others watching land operations.

The money seems like a lot just off hand but not having a facility of this type in this day and age might be foolish. However another way to look at it, if BCFerries is looking to expand their consulting business, this type of facility might be very attractive to other ferry systems. BCFerries could get paid to help other systems set up a similar operation.

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

Jun 24, 2009 6:31:08 GMT -8 Northern Exploration said:

Many corporations have this sort of facility and many more after 9/11. So much major business was impacted by the closing of Wall Street, and head offices being evacuated, that there is a significant trend to having an operations centre to facilitate situations that crop up.

Yeah, and our construction insurance now carries a terrorism rider...

[Ferryman]

It's a little disturbing that they've gone out and spent $35 million on video cameras, and GPS systems. I'm still surprised they don't make you go through thurough Airport Screening, since the terminals resemble an airport atmosphere now. Coming home to Nanaimo last night, the baggage turntable wouldn't work, so bags were brought out manually, and were watched by the semi-intimidating German Shephard guarding the terminal. As the Ferry unloaded with foot passengers, people commented, "Ohh, what a beautiful dog". But the dog handler would just simply keep a straight face have show no reaction.

Security upgrades.

*spit*