The GSN 2015 Digital Yearbook

GSN 2015 DIGITAL YEARBOOK OF AIRPORT/SEAPORT/BORDER SECURITY AWARDS RECIPIENTS
Best Integrated Security Programs
Emergency Response Technology, LLC
2015 Winner
Awards Category:
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Best Integrated Harbor Security Program
Name of Nominated Product, Service,
or Program:
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Integrated Harbor Security Program for the Port of
Greater Baton Rouge
Reason this entry deserves to win:
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According to the American Association of Port Authorities,
the Lower Mississippi River (LMR), where the Port
of Greater Baton Rouge operates, provides transportation
for over 45% of all energy resources and more than
60% of all U.S. commerce, making it the most critical
and at the same time vulnerable critical infrastructure
in the U.S. Each day that the transportation of maritime
commerce on the LMR is interrupted costs the U.S.
economy over $275 million per day, and international
commerce over $500 million per day. A tanker cut a
barge into 2 pieces in 2008, releasing 419,000 gallons
of diesel and shutting down the LMR for 11 days. This
interruption of transportation of maritime commerce
on the LMR created a loss of over $3 billion to the U.S.
economy and $6 billion to international commerce
(www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/25/mississippi.spill/). But
without an emergency response capability for secondary
emergencies, the collision could have been much
worse. The tanker had just uploaded approximately 3
million gallons of Styrene monomer, a compound that
reacts with itself in “autopolymerization”. If this had
happened, the tanker would have exploded with the
force of from 3 to 5 times that of the truck bomb used
in Oklahoma City in 1995, causing extensive collateral
damage and closing the river much longer. The Emergency
Response Technology (ERT) IHSP is designed
to autonomously detect and report multiple threats
simultaneously using both active and passive advanced
sensors using surveillance software. Chemical releases
from either accidents or intentional acts of terrorism at
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