PSA Breakbulk in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges has become the first shipping terminal in Belgium to control visitors’ access to its facilities through biometric facial recognition.
PSA Breakbulk installed the new technology, provided by the Ghent-based startup NineID, to significantly increase security at its facilities and thereby abide by the new stricter ISPS security regulations that recently came into force.
PSA Breakbulk, one of the largest steel and general cargo handlers in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, is the first terminal in Belgium to use NineID's biometric access control that relies on facial authentication. It has been implemented at its Project Cargo Ecosystem on the south side of the Churchill dock.
If an external party is invited by PSA Breakbulk to access the Project Cargo Ecosystem section of PSA Breakbulk's terminal, they must first pre-register by scanning their ID and taking a selfie. If the two match, their pre-registration is approved and a QR code is automatically generated. Once this person arrives at the terminal, the visitor must scan the QR code and undergo a facial scan. If everything matches, they receive access to the terminal.
"We highly value safety and security within our PSA Group," said Yves Stevens, Regional Director HSS EuroMed & Americas. "We therefore regularly invest in new state-of-the-art technologies. We will continue to evaluate the hands-on experience that we are now gaining at PSA Breakbulk to see if we can implement it in our other business units within EuroMed and the Americas."
In addition to PSA Breakbulk, NineID's clients include TVH, A.S. Watson Group and World Forum The Hague.
